MODERN 

PROPAGATION  OF  TREE  FRUITS 


BT 

B.  S.  BROWN,  M.S. 

Professor  of  Horticulture,   University  of  Maine 


FIRST  EDITION 
FIRST  THOUSAND 


NEW  YORK 

JOHN  WILEY  &  SONS, 
LONDON:   CHAPMAN   &   HALL,  LIMITED 
1916 


Copyright,  1916 

BY 
B.  S.  BROWN 

v«" 


PRESS  or 

BRMJNWORTH    &    CO. 

BOOKBINDERS    AND    PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN,    N.    Y. 


PREFACE 


IN  preparing  this  little  book  three  important  factors 
were  kept  in  mind.  First,  only  to  include  those  practices 
of  propagation  which  are  in  general  use  and  which  are 
accepted  by  the  orchardist  and  the  commercial  nursery 
man  as  being  the  most  important.  Second,  to  furnish  in 
a  condensed  form  such  information  on  propagation  as  will 
enable  the  general  fruit  grower  to  follow  out  the  practices. 
It  is  assumed  that  the  average  fruit  grower  has  a  general 
knowledge  of  the  various  methods  of  propagation,  hence 
the  many  confusing  details  are  here  omitted. 

Third,  an  attempt  is  made  to  follow  rather  closely  the 
methods  employed  by  the  arger  commercial  nurseries  and 
to  contrast  these  with  the  similar  operations  of  the  orchard- 
ists.  The  fruit  grower  who  buys  his  nursery  stock  desires 
to  know  something  of  the  methods  whereby  it  is  produced. 
The  student  of  Horticulture  needs  a  general  knowledge  of 
nurseiy  work  and  how  to  apply  it  to  either  commercial  or 
home  use.  It  is  hoped  that  the  work  is  sufficiently  clear 
that  any  interested  fruit  grower  can  successfully  produce 
his  own  trees,  thereby  creating  a  desire  to  know  more  and 
to  do  greater  things. 

To  all  those  who  have  contributed  to  the  work  in  any 
way,  my  thanks  are  due.  On  the  following  page  is  printed 
a  list  of  those  I  am  especially  indebted  to. 

B.  S.  BROWN. 
ORONO,  MAINE. 
June,  1916. 


in 


364869 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 


THE  following  companies  and  individuals  have  kindly 
furnished  the  Author  material  for  the  illustrations  referred 
to  by  the  figures  opposite  their  names. 

Greening  Nursery  Co.,  Monroe,  Mich.:  9,  13,  14,  25,  31,  38,  41, 
60,  61,  62,  63,  66,  67,  and  68. 

Stark  Brothers  Nurseries   and  Orchards  Co.,  Louisiana,  Mo.:  40 
and  71. 

The  Shenandoah  Nurseries,  Shenandoah,   Iowa:    10,  19,  20,  21, 
22,  23,  42,  and  69. 

F.  W.  Watson  &  Co.,  Topeka,  Kan.:  15,  16,  17,  18,  and  70. 
Department  of  Agriculture,  Raleigh,  N.  C.:  33,  34,  35,  and  36. 
Extension  Department,  University  of  Maine:  54. 
L.  M.  Dorsey,  University  of  Maine:  6,  43,  45,  49,  and  53. 

W.  H.  Volck,  Watsonville,  Calif.:  52. 

iv 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

SEED  FOR  PROPAGATION 1 

Importance  of  Nursery  Business.  Investments  in  Nurseries. 
Current  Nursery  Practice — Seed— Stocks  for  the  Different 
Tree  Fruits.  Securing  Seed — Gathering  Apple  Seed — Sub- 
tropical Seed.  Use  of  Cuttings.  Shipping  Seed.  Quanti- 
ties Used. 

CHAPTER  II 

GROWING  THE  SEEDLINGS 20 

Stratification  of  Seed — Special  Seed  Beds — Lath  Houses — 
Other  Methods.  Handling  the  Seed — Use  of  Planters. 
Large  vs.  Small  Seed — Shading — Summer  Planting — Freez- 
ing Fruit  Seed — Soaking  Fruit  Seed — Cracking  Hard  Seed. 
Testing  Seed — Viability  of  Fruit  Seed. 

CHAPTER  III 

THE  NURSERY 32 

General  Considerations.  Points  on  Location.  Small  Nursery 
Plats.  Nursery  Sites — Soil,  Requirements — Drainage — 
Protection  from  Wind  and  Snow — Protection  from  Animals 
— Size  of  the  Plat— Preparation  of  the  Plat — Planting.  Set- 
ting out  Imported  Seedlings.  Cultural  Methods — Spraying 
— Fall  Treatment  of  Seedlings — Grades  of  Seedlings. 

CHAPTER  IV 

BUDDING  OPERATIONS 55 

Budding  or  Grafting.  The  Prevailing  Practice.  The  Budding 
Operations — Tools  for  Budding — Stripping  the  Seedlings. 


vi  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Kinds  of  Budding — June  Budding  and  Dormant  Budding — 
Inserting  the  Bud — After  Treatment.  Budding  Practice 
in  Large  Nurseries — Twig  Budding — Bark  Budding — After 
Treatment.  Summer  Culture  of  Budded  Stock — Sprouting. 
Selecting  Buds.  Collecting  "  Bud  Sticks  "—Buds  from 
Bearing  Trees.  Shipping  "  Bud  Sticks," 


CHAPTER  V 

GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 79 

Grafting  Tools — Saws — Chisel  and  Mallet — Pruning  Shears — 
Grafting  Wax— Use  of  Oil  in  Wax— Waxing  Pot— Wax  For- 
mulas. Theory  of  Grafting.  Kinds  of  Grafts — Whip 
Grafts — Callusing — Piece  Root  or  Whole  Root  Grafts — Side- 
whip  Grafts.  Top  Working  Old  Trees.  Cleft  Grafting- 
Veneer  Grafting — Side  Grafting — Bark  Grafting — Inarch- 
ing— Bridge  Grafting,  Collecting  Cions. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PROPAGATION   BY   CUTTINGS Ill 

Cuttings — Fruits  Grown  from  Cuttings.  Parts  Used.  Class- 
ification of  Cuttings — Principles  Involved — Callusing  Bed. 
Kinds  of  Cuttings — Single  Eye  Cutting — Simple  Cutting — 
Heel  Cutting — Mallet  Cutting — Root  Cutting — Nurse  Root 
Cutting — Tip  Cutting — Truncheons — Soft  Wood  Cuttings. 


•  CHAPTER  VII 

THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 130 

Summer  Culture — Heading  Back — Trimming  Up — Spraying. 
Spray  Machines — Counting  the  Trees — Digging  the  Trees. 
Pulling  the  Trees — Fumigation — Storage  Sheds — Grading. 
Grades  of  Trees.  Sales  Methods — Sub-agents — Catalog 
Selling — Jobbers  and  Dealers — Office  Routine — Filling  the 
Order. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  vii 

CHAPTER  VIII 


PAGE 


SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

Pedigree  Nursery  Stock.  Double  Working  of  Nursery  Trees. 
Influence  of  Stock  on  Cion— Dwarfing— Vigor— Resistance 
to  Diseases  and  Insect  Pests.  Hardiness  in  Nursery  Stock. 
Horticultural  Novelties.  Nursery  Inspection  Laws— State 
and  Federal  Regulation.  Nursery  Organizations  and  So- 
cieties. 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


1.  An  Orchard  for  Growing  Myrobalan  Seed  in  California 7 

2.  Some  Common  Fruit  Seed 8 

3.  Seed  Bearing  Trees  Growing  by  the  Roadside 12 

4.  Separating  Apple  Seed  from  Pomace 13 

5.  Washing  Out  Apple  Seed 14 

6.  Some  of  the  Less  Common  Fruit  Seed 16 

7.  Lath  Propagating  House 22 

8.  A  Southern  Propagating  House 23 

9.  A  Fruit  Seed  Planter 24 

10.  Fifty  Acres  of  Apple  Seedlings 26 

11.  The  Skinner  System  of  Irrigation 37 

12.  A  Nursery  with  Good  Natural  Protection 38 

13.  A  Trencher  for  Planting  Seedlings 41 

14.  A  Firmer  for  Packing  Soil  around  the  Planted  Seedlings 42 

15.  Sliding  off  the  Soil  Ridges  over  Seed  just  before  Growth  Starts  43 

16.  Cultivating  Seedlings 44 

17.  Firming  the  Ground  after  Cultivating 45 

18.  Burying  Apple  Seedlings  to  Remove  Leaves 47 

19.  Field  of  Apple  Seedlings 48 

20.  Storage  Cellar  in  which  Apple  Seedlings  are  Handled 49 

21.  Apple  Seedlings.     No.  1  Straight 50 

22.  Apple  Seedlings.    No.  2  Straight 51 

23.  Apple  Seedlings.     No.  1  Branched 53 

24.  Standard  Budding  Knives 58 

25.  Peach  Seedlings  the  Right  Size  for  Stripping 59 

26.  Stripping  the  Young  Seedlings 60 

27.  Making  the  T-cut  for  the  Bud 62 

28.  Cutting  the  Bud 62 

29.  Inserting  the  Bud 63 

ix 


x  ^LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  PAGE 

30.  Peach  Budded  on  Almond , , , . .  65 

31.  A  Budding  Crew 66 

32.  Twig  Bud 67 

33.  Knife  for  Cutting  Bark  Buds 69 

34.  Tying  a  Bark  Bud 70 

35.  Bud  Set  and  Tie  Removed 71 

36.  Large  Tree  Worked  over  by  Bark  Budding 73 

37.  Grafting  Tools 80 

38.  Bench  Working,  Whip  Grafts 87 

39.  Whip  Grafts 88 

40.  Maching  for  Wrapping  Whip  Grafts 90 

41.  Wrapping  Machine  in  Operation 91 

42.  Whip  Root  Grafts 93 

43.  Side  Whip  Grafts 94 

44.  Working  over  an  Almond  Orchard  to  Prunes  in  California. ...  96 

45.  Cleft  Grafts 97 

46.  Young  Tree  Cleft  Grafted 98 

47.  Same  Tree  after  Two  Years'  Growth 98 

48.  Top-worked  Tree,  leaving  "Nurse"  Branches 100 

49.  Veneer,  or  V  Grafting 101 

50.  Side  Grafts 102 

51.  Bark  Grafts 104 

52.  Inarching 105 

53.  Bridge  Grafts 107 

54.  Bridge  Grafts  after  Two  Years 108 

55.  Some  Types  of  Cuttings 117 

56.  Grape  Cuttings 120 

57.  Citrus  Cuttings 122 

58.  Nurse  Root  Cutting 125 

59.  Truncheons 127 

60.  A  Gasoline  Nursery  Cultivator 131 

61.  A  Gasoline  Cultivator  in  Operation 132 

62.  A  Nursery  Sprayer 135 

63.  Digging  Nursery  Trees  by  Steam 136 

64.  Pulling  the  Trees  after  Digger  has  Passed 138 

65.  Hauling  Nursery  Trees  to  Storage 139 

66.  Fumigating  Nursery  Trees 140 

67.  Trees  Stored  in  Cellar  Previous  to  Grading 141 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xi 

FIG.  PAGE 

68.  Trees  in  Ricks  Ready  for  Filling  Orders 142 

69.  Grades  of  Nursery  Trees 144 

70.  Packing  Stock  for  Shipment 149 

71.  Double  Worked  Nursery  Trees 154 

72.  Almond  Grafted  on  Peach 156 

73.  Almond  Grafted  on  Peach 157 

74.  Almond  Grafted  on  Plum 158 

75.  Cross-section  through  Some  Old  Grafts 159 


MODERN 
PROPAGATION  OF  TREE  FRUITS 


CHAPTER  I 
SEED  FOR  PROPAGATION 

PRACTICALLY  all  of  our  more  common  varieties  of 
fruit  do  not  "  come  true  to  seed/'  hence  the  usual  methods 
of  budding  and  grafting  have  to  be  resorted  to  in  order  to 
perpetuate  standard  varieties.  Some  few  of  our  fruits 
can  be  grown  from  cuttings,  some  do  best  by  budding, 
while  others  are  usually  grafted.  No  particular  method 
is  necessary  or  vital  to  each  kind  of  fruit,  but  the  various 
operations  now  employed  are  the  result  or  outgrowth  of 
efforts  to  economize  in  propagation. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  practical  orchardist  the 
growing  of  nursery  stock  is  usually  left  to  companies  or 
independent  concerns  which  make  that  branch  of  horti- 
culture their  chief  business.  The  vast  number  of  new 
orchards  now  set  every  year  make  the  growing  of  nursery 
stock  of  more  than  passing  interest,  and  it  is  becoming 
the  business  of  up-to-date  orchard  men  to  look  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  "  why "  and  "  how "  of  propagation. 
While  it  may  seldom  be  feasible  for  an  orchardman  to  grow 


SEED  FOK  PROPAGATION 


his  own  stock  it  is  always  advisable  to  know  as  much  about 
the  business  as  possible. 

The  work  of  propagation  divides  itself  naturally  into 
two  groups.  One,  the  modern  nursery  company  whose 
chief  business  is  to  grow  young  trees.  Such  companies 
manifest  little  interest  in  the  production  of  fruit,  growing 
only  what  is  necessary  for  the  work  of  production.  The 
other  is  the  orchardist  who  desires  to  grow  his  own  stock 
or  to  carry  on  some  experiment  in  connection  with  his 
orchard  work.  Such  men  are  responsible  for  much  of  the 
advancement  in  horticultural  knowledge  and  their  ability 
should  have  full  recognition  among  all  students  of  the 
subject. 

Investments  in  Nurseries.  The  U.  S.  Census  of  1910 
reports  80,000  acres  actually  employed  in  the  production 
of  nursery  stock.  This  represents  an  increase  of  thirty- 
five  per  cent  over  that  of  the  ten  preceding  years.  The 
capital  invested  in  the  above  nursery  companies  approxi- 
mate $21,000,000.  This  represents  one  hundred  per  cent 
increase  or  a  doubling  in  value  of  the  ten-year  period. 

Ninety-eight  per  cent  of  this  business  is  handled  by 
companies  which  make  that  their  chief  business,  while  the 
two  per  cent  represents  the  work  of  the  orchardists.  In 
1910  there  were  2470  nursery  concerns  in  the  United  States 
having  an  average  investment  of  $8348.  The  distribution 
of  nursery  companies  is  fairly  even  over  the  United  States. 
The  bulk  of  the  stock,  however,  is  grown  in  the  central 
States;  diminishing  toward  the  north  or  south.  Some  of 
the  leading  States  and  the  value  of  their  business  are  repre- 
sented by  the  following  figures: 


CURRENT  NURSERY  PRACTICE  3 

New  York $4,355,000.00 

California 2,703,000.00 

Texas 1,236,000.00 

Kansas . . 948,000.00 

Pennsylvania 922,000.00 

Minnesota 863,000.00 

Ohio 860,000.00 

Iowa 845,000.00 

Illinois 822,000.00 

Not  all  parts  of  the  country  show  increases  in  the 
nursery  business.  A  number  of  sections  show  decreases  in 
the  decade  following  1900.  It  is  especially  noticeable 
that  the  greatest  decline  comes  from  sections  that  were 
in  the  "  boom  "  period  in  1900  and  have  since  fallen  back 
to  their  productive  level.  Some  of  these  are  the  New  Eng- 
land, Virginia,  Ozark  and  Colorado  sections. 

Current  Nursery  Practice.  Nursery  practice  all  over 
the  United  States  is  founded  on  fairly  definite  general 
principles.  The  details,  however,  necessaiy  for  the  put- 
ting of  the  principles  into  practice  are  widely  variable 
due  to  the  differences  in  local  environment.  As  one  would 
expect  the  difference  in  climate  between  the  north  and  the 
south  or  the  east  and  the  west  is  such  that  many  modi- 
fications of  the  common  practices  are  necessary  in  order 
to  expedite  work  or  to  facilitate  ease  or  convenience  in 
handling  the  stock.  However,  when  one  gets  a  good  work- 
ing knowledge  of  the  methods  of  propagation  for  any  one 
section  of  the  country,  one  can,  by  small  changes  in  prac- 
tices to  suit  the  needs  of  the  local  conditions,  grow  good 


4  SEED  FOR  PROPAGATION 

nursery  stock  in  any  part  of  the  country.  It  is  therefore 
desirable  in  this  discussion  to  give  only  the  more  fundamenta 
operations  and  leave  to  the  judgment  of  the  reader  such 
changes  as  are  necessary  to  suit  the  work  to  his  particular 
locality. 

Seed.  The  first  step  in  the  work  of  propagation  is 
to  secure  good  seed.  Very  few  of  our  common  fruits  will 
grow  well  from  cuttings,  hence  some  kind  of  a  seedling 
must  be  grown  on  which  the  standard  varieties  can  be 
budded  or  grafted.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  get  good 
seed  that  will  grow  strong  roots,  or  the  resultant  tree  will 
be  weak  and  below  standard.  It  is  also  necessary  to  grow 
stock  on  which  standard  varieties  can  easily  be  united. 
There  is  a  wide  difference  in  the  various  fruits  as  to  the 
strength  of  the  union  a  graft  will  make,  and  also  as  to  the 
life  and  vigor  of  the  resulting  tree.  Nursery  men  quite 
generally  agree  upon  the  kinds  of  stock  best  suited  for 
the  various  kinds  of  fruit.  The  following  list  gives  the 
stocks  used  for  the  different  fruits  by  the  best  nursery 
companies  in  the  United  States: 

STOCKS  FOR  THE  DIFFERENT  TREE  FRUITS 
Common  varieties. 


Apple  (standard) , 

[  French  crabapple. 

Apple  (dwarf) Paradise. 

Apple  (semi-dwarf) Doucine. 

•n       f  ,  {  Chinese  or  Japanese. 

Pear  (standard) \-n-a         i  T/ 

[  Kieffer  and  French. 

Pear  (dwarf) Quince. 

Quince Common. 


SECURING  SEED  5 

Almond Bitter  almond,  peach  or  plum. 

Apricot Common  apricot  or  peach. 

Cherry  (sweet) Black  Mazzard. 

Cherry  (sour). .  1 . .>  . . . Mahaleb. 

Peach Wild  from  Ken.  and  Tenn. 

Plum  (Eastern  States) Myrobalan. 

Plum  (Western  States) Myrobalan  and  Mariana. 

Walnut Black  walnut. 

Pecan Own  roots. 

Chestnut Native  American. 

Olive Own  roots. 

Citrus  fruits Sour  orange  and  pomelo. 

Fig Grown  from  cuttings. 

Mulberry Grown  from  cuttings. 

Date  palm Suckers  or  off-shoots. 

Banana Suckers  or  off-shoots. 

The  above  list  comprises  the  most  important  fruits  and 
the  stocks  mentioned  are  quite  generally  used  through- 
out the  United  States.  In  certain  localities  other  stock  may 
be  substituted  but  only  to  meet  specific  or  unusual  condi- 
tions. 

Securing  Seed.  The  securing  of  good  strong  virile 
seed  is  not  always  easy.  Some  are  collected  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  others  are  grown  by  the  nursery 
companies  for  their  own  use,  while  still  others  are  imported 
from  Europe.  The  business  of  seed  collecting  has  never 
been  given  much  consideration  in  the  United  States;  hence 
many  of  our  most  important  fruit  seed  have  to  be  imported. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  more  attention  has  not  been  given 


6  SEED  FOR  PROPAGATION 

to  home  grown  seed  as  there  is  ample  proof  that  such  can 
be  had  just  as  good  if  not  better  than  the  imported. 

It  seldom  happens  that  the  seed  from  the  fruit  of  the 
more  improved  varieties  are  suitable  for  propagation 
work.  They  are  usually  low  in  vitality  and  often  fail 
to  germinate  altogether.  The  longer  the  varieties  in  ques- 
tion have  been  known  the  less  likely  are  the  seed  to  be  good. 
It  is  not  only  necessary  that  the  seed  grow  well,  but  also 
that  the  resulting  seedlings  be  strong,  vigorous  and  free 
from  diseases.  Varieties  that  have  been  propagated 
vegetatively  for  a  long  period  of  years  have  gradually  weak- 
ened in  their  seed-producing  power.  It  therefore  follows 
that  the  nearer  one  can  get  to  the  wild  state  in  collecting 
seed  the  better  will  be  the  results. 

The  seed  from  the  stone  fruits  (peach,  plum,  apricot, 
cherry,  etc.),  are  collected  to  some  extent  in  the  United 
States.  The  peach  seed  comes  mostly  from  the  mountains 
and  foot-hills  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  In  this  section 
it  has  run  wild  and  simulated  more  nearly  the  conditions 
of  its  native  country.  The  trees  have  had  to  fight  for 
their  own  existence,  and  those  that  have  survived  are  strong 
and  vigorous.  Where  these  cannot  be  obtained,  access 
can  only  be  had  to  the  commercial  varieties.  A  few  kinds 
like  the  Salway  and  Elberta  produce  good  seed  and  are 
often  substituted  for  the  wild  ones.  Unscrupulous  nur- 
serymen go  direct  to  the  canneries  and  driers  and  gather 
seed  promiscuously.  This  often  results  in  many  weak 
and  inferior  specimens,  resulting  later  in  short-lived  trees. 

With  apricots  the  seed  is  usually  collected  from  natural 
fruit  where  the  grafts  have  failed  to  take,  or  from  those 


SECUEING  SEED  7 

that  have  grown  up  along  fences,  creeks,  etc.  Almonds 
are  collected  about  the  same  way  as  apricots.  Many 
almonds  that  come  naturally  from  seed  are  bitter,  hence 
have  no  commerial  value  other  than  for  nursery  work. 
Almost  every  orchard Jias  some  trees  in  it  which  have  never 
been  grafted,  or  the  grafts  have  failed  to  take.  These  are 
usually  separated  at  harvesting  time  and  the  fruit  saved 


FIG.  1. — An  Orchard  for  Growing  Myrobalan  Seed  in  California. 

for  nursery  work.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  almond 
seed  be  bitter  in  order  to  be  used  for  nursery  work,  but 
they  ought  at  least  to  be  hard  shells  and  selected  from 
vigorous  growing  trees. 

For  plum  stock  several  sources  of  seed  are  available. 
The  most  common  is  the  Myrobalan  which  is  used  in  the 
eastern  and  central  United  States.  Most  nurserymen  prefer 
to  import  this  variety  from  Italy,  where  it  grows  wild  and 


SEED  FOR  PROPAGATION 


• 


FIG.  2. — Some  Common  Fruit  Seed.  1  Prune,  2  Apricot,  3  Almond, 

4  Peach. 


SECURING  SEED  9 

where  the  fruit  is  used  for  making  a  cheap  wine.  In  the 
southern  and  western  United  States  this  variety  is  often 
referred  to  as  the  Cherry  Plum,  because  of  its  resemblance 
to  the  common  cherry.  The  tree  grows  well  in  the  warmer 
climates  and  many  nurserymen  are  now  growing  their 
own  plum  seed,  Fig.  1.  The  Myrobalan  does  not  do  well  in 
the  colder  parts  of  the  prairie  sections  of  the  United  States, 
hence  some  other  kind  must  be  substituted.  Two  kinds 
are  available  for  this  purpose,  the  Mariana  and  the  St. 
Julian.  Both  are  hardy  and  resistant  to  the  cold  dry 
atmosphere  of  the  prairie  winters.  Some  of  the  Japanese 
varieties  of  plums  are  grafted  on  to  peach  stock,  but  the 
practice  is  not  general. 

The  seed  for  growing  cherry  stock  is  of  two  distinct 
kinds.  This  is  necessary  because  the  common  com- 
mercial varieties  represent  two  different  species  which 
are  quite  distinct  in  their  growth  and  habits.  The  sweet 
cherries  which  are  frequently  referred  to  as  the  Hearts  and 
Bigarreaus,  are  usually  grafted  on  to  the  Black  Mazzard, 
which  is  a  wild  type  of  the  same  species.  The  sour  cherries 
or  the  Dukes  and  Morellos  are  worked  on  to  the  Mahaleb. 
Both  of  these,  stocks  grow  well  in  the  United  States,  yet 
very  few  nurserymen  attempt  to  grow  them  for  their  own 
use.  For  the  most  part  they  are  imported  from  Europe 
by  some  nursery  supply  house  and  redistributed  in  this 
country.  There  are  many  wild  species  of  cherries  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  United  States  which  may  be  used  as 
stock  for  the  standard  varieties,  but  few  nursery  companies 
make  use  of  them,  simply  because  there  has  been  no  effort 
to  collect  them  for  the  trade. 


10  SEED  FOR  PROPAGATION 

In  the  case  of  all  the  stone  fruits,  more  or  less  dif- 
ficulty is  experienced  in  removing  the  fleshy  covering  in 
order  to  get  ths  seed  into  suitable  condition  for  handling 
or  storage.  With  the  Mahaleb  and  some  types  of  the 
Myrobalan,  the  pulp  is  dried  down  on  the  pit  and  the  seed 
is  used  in  that  condition.  In  most  cases,  however,  the  pulp 
must  be  removed.  This  may  be  done  in  either  of  two 
ways.  One  is  to  remove  the  flesh  by  hand,  and  then  dry 
the  pits  in  the  sun.  The  other  is  to  pile  the  fruit  up  in 
large  piles  and  let  them  decay.  After  the  pulp  is  fairly 
well  rotted  they  are  shovelled  into  a  vat  and  soaked  up  with 
water.  The  souring  or  fermenting  of  the  mass  causes  the 
pulp  to  become  separated  from  the  pits.  They  can  then 
be  separated  by  washing  them  over  a  wire  screen.  They 
are  then  dried  in  the  sun,  sacked  up  and  stored  in  a  cool 
moist  place  until  needed. 

For  stock  on  which  to  work  apples,  nurserymen  are 
pretty  generally  agreed  on  the  use  of  the  so-called  French 
Crabapple.  Strictly  speaking  these  are  not  crabapples 
but  simply  the  fruit  of  a  wild  apple  of  France.  Many  of 
the  low  foothills  and  poor  land  areas  of  France  are  cov- 
ered with  apples  that  have  run  wild,  resembling  somewhat 
in  appearance  the  crabapple  and  somewhat  our  common 
apple.  The  French  collect  the  fruit  from  these  trees  and, 
after  extracting  the  juice  for  cider  or  vinegar,  remove  the 
seed  from  the  pomace — thus  the  American  "  French 
Crab." 

The  stock  grown  from  these  French  seeds  are  quite 
generally  uniform  in  their  habits  of  growth  and  make 
strong  vigorous  seedlings.  They  are  sometimes  imported 


SECURING  SEED  11 

as  seed  but  more  often  are  grown  for  one  year  in  Europe 
and  then  imported  as  seedlings.  Nursery  companies 
claim  that  they  can  buy  the  year-old  seedlings  cheaper 
than  they  can  get  the  seed  and  grow  them  themselves. 
The  seedlings  thus  grown  are  no  better  than  American 
grown  stock, — the  situation  simply  represents  an  economic 
condition  resulting  from  cheaper  labor  in  Europe. 

In  recent  years  efforts  have  been  made  to  grow  apple 
seedlings  in  the  United  States.  But  few  places  have  been 
found  that  will  grow  a  smooth,  clean  plant  with  a  straight 
root.  The  central  west  is  now  the  chief  center  for  growing 
these  seedlings.  Mr.  D.  S.  Lake  of  the  Shenandoah  Nur- 
series, Iowa,  makes  the  following  statement  on  the  subject: 
"  Nearly  all  the  apple  seedlings  grown  in  the  United 
States  are  in  the  vicinity  of  Topeka,  Kansas,  up  and  down 
the  Kaw  valley  for  thirty  miles  or  more  each  way.  This 
bottom  land  is  made  soil  and  more  or  less  sandy  but  ex- 
tremely fertile.  There  are  about  one  thousand  bushels 
of  seed  sown  in  the  United  States.  Imported  seed  is  mostly 
used  and  all  the  native  seed  used  comes  from  Vermont, 
where  there  still  remain  some  old  seedling  orchards.  The  im- 
proved cider  mills  crush  the  seed  more  or  less  and  it  is  pretty 
hard  to  get  good  sound  apple  seed  from  Vermont.  Some- 
times half  of  the  seeds  are  cracked  by  the  mills,  and  when 
the  hulls  are  once  cracked  there  is  no  chance  for  the  seed 
to  grow.  The  French  seeds  are  gathered  from  cider  mills 
in  sections  where  apples  are  grown  for  the  cider  only.  They 
do  not  select  choice  varieties,  but  simply  select  and  grow 
apples  that  produce  the  most  cider.  These  apples  are 
about  the  size  of  the  seedling  kinds  grown  in  Vermont 


12 


SEED  FOE  PROPAGATION 


and  perhaps  there  are  some  similar  orchards  in  other  east- 
ern states. 

"  The  imported  seed  is  strong  in  vitality  and  grow  good 
seedlings,  but  the  French  seed  is  getting  poorer  than  it 
used  to  be  from  the  fact  that  instead  of  using  the  old  mills 
that  they  used  to,  which  did  not  injure  the  seed,  they  are 
gradually  adopting  the  cylinder  grinders  like  our  own 


FIG.  3. — Good  Seed-bearing  Trees  Growing  by  the  Roadside. 

which  crack  the  seed  more  or  less  and  I  do  not  think  it 
will  be  a  great  while  until  even  the  French  seed  will  be  as 
inferior  as  the  American  apple  seed  is  to-day.  We  figure 
in  order  to  get  one  bushel  of  good  seed  we  must  buy  two 
bushels.  This  was  not  the  case  years  ago.'7 

There  are  many  varieties  of  apples  in  the  United  States 
yielding  seed  that  will  answer  every  requirement  of  good 
nursery  stock.  These  have  never  been  made  use  of  com- 


GATHERING  APFLE  SEED 


13 


mercially,  because  of  a  lack  of  an  organized  effort  on  the 
part  of  any  one  to  collect  them  for  the  trade.  All  through 
New  England  and  in  many  of  the  other  States  apples  grow 
wild  in  all  sorts  of  places,  Fig.  3.  These  often  represent  hardy, 
vigorous  trees  which  bear  fruit  having  plump,  well-developed 
seed.  There  are  also  many  of  the  commercial  varieties 


FIG.  4. — Skimming  Off  the  Pomace. 

which  yield  good  viable  seed.  Even  the  common  run  of 
seed  as  taken  from  apple  pomace  can  be  used  to  good  ad- 
vantage if  a  little  precaution  is  taken. 

Gathering  Apple  Seed.  To  collect  apple  seed  for 
nursery  purposes  it  is  necessary  to  get  plump,  well-developed 
seed  from  strong,  vigorous,  growing  trees.  The  fruit  is 
separated  at  harvesting  time  and  the  juice  extracted  for 


14 


SEED  FOR  PROPAGATION 


I  ^ 

cider  or  vinegar  making.     The  pomace  is  then  put  into  a 

barrel  or  tank  and  soaked  with  water.  The  little  remain- 
ing sugar  in  the  pomace  gradually  ferments,  causing  a  thin 
slimy  coat  to  form  over  the  seed.  The  pomace  is  stirred 
thoroughly  from  time  to  time,  causing  the  seed  to  separate 
from  the  pap  and  settle  to  the  bottom.  After  three  or 


FIG.  5.— Washing  Out  the  Cecd. 

four  days  the  pomace  can  be  skimmed  off  the  top  of  the  barrel 
and  the  seed  separated. 

For  separating  the  seed,  two  wire  screens  are  needed, 
one  of  just  large  enough  mesh  to  let  the  seed  pass  through 
and  one  small  enough  so  they  will  not.  Figs.  4  and  5.  If,  in 
addition,  running  water  can  be  had  the  task  will  be  easy. 
The  large  mesh  screen  will  separate  most  of  the  pomace, 
while  the  smaller  one  will  take  out  the  smaller  particles. 


GATHERING  APPLE  SEED  15 

Then  a  little  washing  with  the  hose  will  leave  the  seed  free 
from  the  pulp.  They  should  then  be  spread  thinly  on  trays 
in  the  sun  to  dry.  When  dried  sufficiently  to  prevent 
molding  they  are  sacked  and  stored  in  a  cool  moist  place. 
Only  heavy  seeds,  which  are  the  good  ones,  will  settle  to 
the  bottom.  The  poorer  ones  rising  to  the  top  are  skimmed 
off  with  the  pulp.  In  this  way  only  good  seeds  are  secured. 
Figures  four  and  five  will  give  an  idea  how  this  work  may 
be  done. 

Pear  seed  is  collected  in  the  same  way  as  apple  seed. 
There  is  less  use  for  cider  or  vinegar  made  from  pears  than 
from  apples,  yet  they  are  often  used  commercially.  Where 
it  is  not  desirable  to  first  remove  the  juice  from  the  fruit, 
they  can  be  piled  up  in  the  open  and  allowed  to  decay. 
After  several  days,  fermentation  will  be  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced so  that  the  fruit  may  be  treated  in  the  same  way 
as  the  apple  pomace. 

Nurserymen  import  most  of  the  pear  seed  used  for  stock. 
The  seeds  from  the  Chinese  or  Japanese  sand  pear  and 
the  common  French  pear  are  the  most  used,  being  preferred 
for  their  resistance  to  the  pear  blight  disease.  Sometimes 
American  grown  seeds  are  used,  in  which  case  those  of  the 
Kieffer  variety  are  preferred.  This  particular  variety  is 
a  hybrid  between  the  Chinese  pear  and  the  Bartlett,  and 
partakes  largely  of  its  Oriental  parent  in  its  resistance 
to  diseases.  Other  varieties  are  occasionally  used,  and  in 
sections  where  the  pear  blight  is  not  bad  most  any  strong 
growing  kind  would  answer. 

For  other  tree  fruits  the  customs  are  not  so  well  fixed. 
In  propagating  the  various  kinds  of  nuts,  numerous  methods 


16 


SEED  FOR  PROPAGATION 


are  used.  The  English  or  Persian  walnuts  are  either 
grafted  on  their  own  seedlings  or  on  those  of  the  Black 
Walnuts.  The  latter  is  preferred  because  of  its  hardiness 
and  resistance  to  certain  diseases.  In  the  moist  sections, 
the  Eastern  Black  Walnut  is  used,  while  in  the  arid  regions 
the  Arizona  Black  or  California  Black  are  used  because  of 
their  adaptability  to  the  drier  conditions.  Pecans  are 
worked  on  the  more  hardy  native  seedlings.  Many  of  these 


Olive  -  Olea  europa 


Spanish  Chestnut  -  Castena  vesca 


Pecan-Hicoria  pecan  ' Hicoria  ovata 

YIG.  6. — Some  of  the  Less  Common  Tree  Fruit  Seed. 

nuts  are  grown  as  seedlings,  because  only  in  recent  years  has 
any  definite  effort  been  made  to  develop  better  varieties, 
and  the  nearer  any  variety  is  to  the  native  or  wild  con- 
dition the  less  the  need  for  any  special  stock. 

Chestnuts  are  usually  worked  upon  the  native  American 
stock.  Many  of  these  are  still  grown  as  seedlings,  there 
having  been  little  effort  toward  improved  strains.  The 
hickories,  butternuts,  filberts  and  other  wild  nuts  are  almost 
entirely  grown  direct  from  seed,  there  being  no  need  of 


SUB-TROPICAL  SEEDS— USE  OF  CUTTINGS         17 

grafting.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  greater  effort  has 
been  put  forth  to  improve  some  of  our  native  nuts.  They 
are  widely  variable,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  right  person 
could  be  developed  into  improved  and  highly  desirable 
strains  or  varieties. 

Sub-tropical  Seeds.  In  the  case  of  the  tree  fruits 
of  the  warmer  climates  no  great  choice  of  seeds  exists. 
The  citrus  fruits  (orange,  lemon,  pomelo,  etc.),  have  quite 
a  wide  range  of  stock  as  they  will  readily  interwork  on  the 
different  species.  The  Florida  sour  stock,  the  seedling 
pomelo  and  the  sweet  orange  comprise  the  bulk  of  the  stock 
for  all  the  different  kinds  of  cirtus  fruit.  Formerly  many 
lemons  were  used  but  these  have  since  been  discarded. 
They  grow  well,  make  a  strong  union  but  are  not  as  hardy 
as  the  others.  The  Florida  sour  stock  is  preferred,  and 
many  propagators  use  it  altogether. 

The  olive  is  sometimes  grown  from  seed  but  more  fre- 
quently from  cuttings.  The  olive  seeds  are  peculiar  in 
that  they  have  an  oil  sack  surrounding  the  embryo  which 
prevents  moisture  from  getting  in  to  start  germination. 
Thus  most  olive  seeds  must  have  two  years  to  germinate, 
making  the  process  a  long,  tedious  one.  In  Europe  the 
hard  seeds  are  cracked.  But  this  is  difficult  as  each  seed 
has  to  be  screwed  up  in  a  vise  just  enough  to  make  a  small 
crack.  If  overdone  the  germ  is  destroyed.  However, 
they  root  fairly  well  from  cuttings  and  do  not  have  to  be 
budded  or  grafted  over. 

Use  of  Cuttings.  Some  few  tree  fruits  are  grown  from 
cuttings  because  the  seed  is  either  lacking  or  hard  to  grow. 
Of  these  the  most  important  are  figs  and  mulberries.  Both 


18  SEED  FOE  PROPAGATION 

have  very  small  seeds  and  in  the  case  of  the  fig  are  very 
difficult  to  start, — in  fact  many  of  them  are  infertile. 
Olives  and  quinces  are  as  frequently  propagated  from  cut- 
tings as  from  seed;  and  apples,  pears  and  most  of  the  citrus 
fruits  may  be  grown  in  this  way.  The  stone  fruits  are  dif- 
ficult to  propagate  vegetatively  but  can  be  so  grown.  The 
methods  employed  in  growing  trees  from  cuttings  are  quite 
different  from  seed  propagation  and  will  be  discussed  later. 

Shipping  Seed.  As  much  of  the  fruit  tree  seed  is 
gathered  a  long  way  from  where  it  is  to  be  used,  some 
attention  must  be  given  to  preparation  for  shipment. 
Most  seed  should  be  dry  enough  so  it  will  not  mold  in 
bulk,  yet  not  enough  to  lessen  the  germinating  qualities. 
Most  all  of  the  nut  fruits  when  thoroughly  dried  fail  to 
grow.  This  is  largely  the  reason  why  commercial  nuts 
bought  on  the  open  market  do  not  grow. 

Small  seeds  like  apple  and  pear  may  be  mixed  with 
powdered  charcoal  which  acts  as  an  equalizer  of  moisture. 
Larger  seeds  may  be  shipped  in  paper  bags  or  cloth  sacks 
anywhere  on  land,  but  if  they  are  to  cross  the  ocean  they 
must  be  protected  from  salt  air  and  excessive  moisture. 
Oiled  paper  is  used  for  small  quantities,  while  boxes  lined 
with  some  waterproofing  material  are  used  for  large 
quantities. 

Quantities  Used.  No  carefully  prepared  statistics 
showing  the  quantities  of  fruit  seed  imported  are  avail- 
able, but  an  average  estimate  from  known  sources  would 
probably  reach  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  annually. 
Many  nursery  companies  prefer  to  have  the  seed  grown  one 
year  and  then  imported  as  seedlings.  This  method  repre- 


REVIEW  QUESTIONS  19 

sents  a  saving  because  of  cheap  labor  in  most  foreign 
countries.  Importations  of  such  seedlings,  including  cut- 
tings, average  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  annually. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS 

1.  Why  do  not  most  standard  varieties  of  fruit  "  come  true  to 

seed  "? 

2.  Who  grows  most  of  the  nursery  trees?    Wliy? 

3.  Discuss  the  investments  in  nursery  business. 

4.  Give  a  list  of  the  tree  fruits  and  the  seeds  used  in  growing 

stock  for  each. 

5.  WTiere  is  each  different  kind  of  seed  collected? 

6.  What  advantages  have  imported  seed,  if  any? 

7.  Why  are  not  American  seeds  more  generally  used? 

8.  Discuss  the  collecting  of  seeds  for  the  stone  fruits. 

9.  Give  in  detail  the  method  of  extracting  apple  seed. 

10.  Why  is  "  French  Crab  "  seed  preferred  for  apples? 

11.  How  does  the  handling  of  seeds  for  nut  trees   differ  from   the 

others? 

12.  What  are  the  sub-tropical  fruits  and  the  seeds  used  for  each? 

13.  Why  are  olive  seed  especially  hard  to  germinate? 

14.  What  fruits  are  usually  propagated  from  cuttings?    Why? 

15.  How  are  fruit  seeds  handled  for  shipment? 


CHAPTER  II 
GROWING  THE  SEEDLINGS 

Stratification.  There  are  several  methods  employed 
in  germinating  the  seed,  depending  upon  the  extent  of  the 
business  and  upon  the  convenience  of  the  handler.  They 
are  sometimes  planted  directly  into  the  nursery  row  and  some- 
times put  through  a  sprouting  process  during  the  winter 
months  in  special  seed  beds,  and  then  removed  to  the  nur- 
sery in  the  spring.  In  the  latter  case  several  methods 
are  employed.  The  usual  one,  however,  is  to  bury  the  seed 
in  a  light  sandy  soil  during  fall  or  winter  and  then  remove  to 
the  nursery  row  after  sprouting  has  started.  For  the  larger 
seeds,  such  as  the  peach  and  plum,  a  plot  of  ground  is 
selected  in  the  garden  or  some  convenient  place  near  where 
they  are  to  be  set  in  the  nursery,  and  after  levelling  off, 
the  seeds  are  spread  out  in  a  thin  layer  and  then  covered 
with  from  two  to  four  inches  of  soil.  In  the  prevailing 
climatic  conditions  of  the  south  and  west  the  seeds  should 
be  put  into  the  bed  during  the  months  of  November,  De- 
cember or  January.  The  earlier  in  the  winter  they  are  put 
in  the  thicker  should  be  the  covering;  the  later  the  less  the 
covering,  so  they  will  get  the  heat  of  the  sun  at  about  the 
same  time.  Some  nurserymen  prefer  to  spread  the  seed 
evenly  over  the  top  of  the  bed  and  then  spade  them  in. 
This  method  often  makes  trouble  in  separating  them 
when  ready  to  plant. 

20 


SPECIAL  SEED  BEDS  21 

Special  Seed  Beds.  In  the  colder  states  where  the 
winters  are  long  and  severe,  seed  beds  are  often  used  in 
place  of  the  open  ground.  These  are  made  in  some  shel- 
tered place  in  the  open  or  in  some  building  if  desired. 
Coarse  sand  is  placed  in  the  bottom  to  secure  good  drain- 
age, then  a  layer  of  sand  three  or  four  inches  deep  on  which 
the  seeds  are  spread.  These  are  then  covered  two  or  three 
inches  deep  with  sand  and  allowed  to  remain  through 
the  winter.  The  seeds  should  be  placed  in  these  beds  just 
before  the  ground  freezes  up  for  the  winter  (usually  in 
November) .  . 

Care  should  be  taken  that  the  seed  bed  is  placed  where 
water  will  not  stand  on  it  during  the  winter  lest  the  seed 
rot;  also  a  light  sandy  loam  is  best,  as  the  seeds  are  then 
easier  to  separate  at  planting  time.  There  should  be  at 
least  sufficient  sand  to  prevent  the  soil  from  puddling  and 
sticking  to  the  seed.  Several  layers  of  seed  and  sand  may 
be  put  together.  This  is  often  done  by  large  companies  to 
economize  space.  Under  such  conditions  there  is  danger 
of  the  seed  heating  during  the  early  stages  of  germina- 
tion, and  they  should  be  shoveled  over  several  times  to 
avoid  it.  Such  a  process  could  best  be  handled  indoors. 

The  seeds  remain  in  these  beds  during  the  winter  season 
where  they  absorb  water  and  swell  up  sufficiently  to  crack 
the  shell.  When  warm  weather  comes  in  the  spring,  sprouts 
begin  to  appear.  During  these  early  months  the  bed  should 
be  examined  occasionally  to  determine  the  progress  of  ger- 
mination. For  the  large  seed,  when  the  first  sprouts  appear 
they  should  be  dug  up,  removed  to  the  nursery  and  dropped 
from  two  to  four  inches  apart  in  furrows  prepared  for  them. 


22 


GROWING  THE  SEEDLINGS 


Lath  Houses.  If  something  more  elaborate  than  the 
above  described  seed  bed  be  desired,  or  if  a  permanent  bed 
for  use  with  other  seed  as  well  is  wanted  one  can  be  made 
after  the  model  of  the  accompanying  illustration,  Fig.  7. 
Such  houses  are  constructed  of  lath  at  a  nominal  cost  and  if 
properly  built  and  painted,  serve  as  an  ornament  to  any 
place.  They  can  also  be  used  for  growing  cuttings  and  other 


FIG.  7. — A  Lath  Propagating  House. 

4 

seedlings,  as  well  as  a  cool  place  for  many  ornamental  plants 
during  the  heat  of  the  summer. 

Other  Methods.  Another  method  frequently  employed 
is  the  use  of  sawdust  or  sphagnum  moss.  The  seeds  are 
thoroughly  mixed  with  the  sawdust  or  moss,  shoveled  into 
a  barrel  or  box  and  set  away  in  a  damp  place  to 
sprout.  This  method  requires  greater  care  in  keeping  the 
right  amount  of  moisture,  but  the  results  are  quite  as 
satisfactory.  This  does  away  with  the  use  of  any  sand 


HANDLING  SMALL  SEED— USE  OF  PLANTERS     23 

and    makes   the   seed   more    easy   to   move    at    planting 
time. 

Handling  Small  Seed.  Many  nursery  companies  prefer 
to  stratify  the  small  seed  in  the  nursery  row  rather  than  use 
seed  beds.  Apple,  pear  and  quince  seeds  may  be  ger- 
minated in  this  way,  but  there  is  always  the  uncertainty 
of  the  number  that  will  grow.  Where  the  per  cent  that 


FIG.  8. — A  Southern  Propagating  House. 

will  germinate  is  not  known,  the  seed  must  either  be  put  in 
very  thick  and  then  thinned  out  as  they  come  up,  or  the 
gaps  in  the  nursery  row  must  be  replanted  in  the  spring. 
Another  objection  is  that  grass  and  weeds  start  as  early 
in  the  spring  as  the  seed  and  much  fine  work  is  necessary 
while  the  young  plants  are  very  small. 

Use  of  Planters.    A  few  companies  claim  success  by 
this  method  with  large  seeds  like  peach,  plum  and  apricot, 


24 


GROWING  THE  SEEDLINGS 


and  no  doubt  the  work  is  less  expensive.  Where  the  ger- 
minating power  of  the  seed  is  fairly  well  known,  this  may  be 
recommended.  Under  such  conditions,  the  seed  should  be 
stratified  for  a  short  time  early  in  the  fall  and  then  a  special 
seed  planter  is  used  to  drop  the  seed.  This  makes  it  neces- 
sary to  buy  the  seed  a  year  ahead  of  time  since  it  is  not 


FIG.  9. — A  Peach-seed  Planter  and  its  Inventor,  J.  W.  Romine,  of 
Monroe,  Mich. 

possible  to  collect  them  early  enough  to  stratify  and  plant 
the  same  season. 

The  machines  used  to  plant  large  seeds  are  of  a  special 
type,  Fig.  9,  and  have  given  very  good  results  wherever  used. 
They  drop  two  rows  at  once  and  have  a  capacity  of  about 
seventy-five  bushels  a  day.  The  feed  mechanism  is  adjust- 
able and  can  be  regulated  at  will.  This  is  important  be- 


USE  OF  PLANTERS  25 

cause  the  poorer  the  seed  the  more  will  be  needed  to  be 
planted  to  the  foot.  Where  the  seeds  are  stratified  for 
several  weeks  before  planting,  the  sprouting  will  have 
progress  far  enough  so  a  mechanical  test  will  give  a  fair 
estimate  of  the  per  cent  that  will  germinate.  This  test 
is  made  by  selecting  at  random  one  hundred  seeds,  splitting 
open  the  shell  and  examining  the  kernel.  Those  that  are 
sound,  plump  and  in  good  condition  can  be  depended  upon 
to  grow.  From  these  figures  the  per  cent  is  calculated  and 
the  feed  of  the  machine  adjusted  to  give  just  the  right 
number  of  good  seeds  to  the  foot  of  row. 

Large  commercial  companies  which  make  a  practice 
of  growing  seedlings  for  the  trade  use  the  nursery  row 
method  altogether,  as  it  is  much  more  economical.  The 
bulk  of  American  grown  apple  seedlings  are  produced  in 
Iowa  and  Kansas,  where  over  eight  hundred  acres  are 
annually  devoted  to  this  purpose.  Mr.  F.  W.  Watson  of 
Topeka,  Kan.,  gives  the  following  method  for  growing 
apple  seedlings  on  a  large  scale: 

"  The  bulk  of  the  seed  comes  from  France,  packed  in 
charcoal.  As  soon  as  received,  it  is  run  through  a  fanning 
mill  to  take  out  the  charcoal,  then  put  in  sacks  and  soaked 
from  five  to  seven  days,  the  water  being  changed  several 
tunes.  It  is  then  stored  away  in  a  cool  place,  until  plant- 
ing time.  If  the  weather  happens  to  be  cold  so  the  seed 
can  be  frozen  before  planting  time,  so  much  the  better. 
Seed  that  has  been  planted  without  having  first  been  well 
soaked  starts  irregularly  and  often  a  large  proportion  will 
not  sprout.  At  planting  time  the  seed  is  spread  out  on 
long  screens  to  partially  dry  so  that  it  will  pass  through 


26 


GROWING  THE  SEEDLINGS 


LARGE  VS.  SMALL  SEED  27 

the  drills  freely.  If  the  sun  is  hot  and  the  seed  becomes 
too  dry,  it  will  germinate  slowly  and  sometimes  it  will 
fail  to  start  at  all  and  the  crop  is  lost.  As  soon  as  the  seed 
begins  to  sprout  the  cultivators  are  started. 

"  The  drill  used  to  sow  the  seed  is  a  wheat  drill  remod- 
elled so  as  to  sow  four  rows  twenty-four  inches  apart, 
planting  the  seed  three-quarters  of  an  inch  below  the  sur- 
face and  covering  with  a  ridge  three  inches  high." 

"  From  eight  to  twelve  good  seeds  are  planted  to  the 
foot,  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  bushels  to  the  acre." 

Large  vs.  Small  Seed.  Large  seeds  including  most  of 
the  nuts  and  many  of  the  stone  fruits  are  very  easy  to 
handle  through  the  seed  beds  and  for  small  quantities 
this  method  is  preferable.  As  the  sprouts  appear  in  the 
spring  they  are.  large  and  strong  and  can  be  moved  with 
little  danger  of  breaking.  They  will  not  all  germinate 
at  the  same  time  and  those  that  show  no  signs  of  swelling 
in  the  spring  should  be  discarded.  They  are  easy  to 
separate  from  the  sand  in  the  seed  bed,  and  should  be 
dropped  into  a  furrow  in  the  nursery  row  from  one  to  four 
inches  apart  according  to  what  the  future  treatment  is  to 
be.  No  attention  need  be  given  to  the  position  of  the 
sprouts  when  planted. 

Small  seeds  like  apples  and  pears  will  often  germinate 
very  early  and  may  blight  before  the  planter  is  aware. 
They  will  need  to  be  moved  very  early  to  the  nursery  row 
or  covered  with  more  soil,  shaded  from  the  sun  and  allowed 
to  grow  in  the  seed  bed.  After  the  second  pair  of  leaves 
appears  they  can  be  dug  out  and  transferred  to  the  nursery 
the  same  as  any  seedling.  This  process  involves  the  hand- 


28  GROWING  THE  SEEDLINGS 

ling  of  each  plant  individually,  and  where  large  numbers 
are  grown  makes  the  process  very  expensive,  although  ex- 
cellent results  can  be  obtained  in  this  manner. 

Shading.  Where  seeds  are  allowed  to  grow  in  the  beds 
the  little  plantlets  may  be  very  sensitive  to  sunlight  and 
will  need  to  be  protected.  If  the  lath  house  previously 
referred  to  is  used,  this  will  be  sufficient.  Posts  may  be 
dug  in  along  the  beds  and  covered  with  lath,  or  white 
muslin  may  be  stretched  over  the  beds.  If  these  are 
three  or  four  feet  above  the  ground  results  will  be  better. 
The  farther  south  the  nursery  is  located  the  more  important 
the  shading  becomes. 

Summer  Planting.  Practically  all  fruit  seed  will  ger- 
minate if  planted  during  the  summer,  and  for  the  small 
home  nursery  spring  or  summer  planting  may  sometimes 
be  desirable.  Growth  is  not  so  rapid  and  this  method  often 
calls  for  an  extra  year  in  the  nursery.  The  one  difficulty 
of  this  plan  is  to  keep  the  seed  in  good  condition  over  the 
winter.  They  should  be  kept  cool  and  moist  and  not 
exposed  to  rapid  changes  or  extremes  of  temperature. 

Freezing  Fruit  Seed.  The  idea  common  in  many 
places  that  hard  shelled  seeds  must  be  frozen  before  they 
will  germinate  is  quite  erroneous.  Often,  freezing  may 
hasten  germination  but  is  in  no  case  necessary.  Where 
cold  is  made  use  of  in  practice,  the  seeds  should  be  covered 
with  soil  to  prevent  a  too  rapid  fluctuation  in  temperature. 
If  exposed  to  frost  in  the  open  air  germination  will  be  re- 
tarded, and  if  too  severe  will  be  prevented  altogether. 
All  kinds  of  hard-shelled  seeds  may  be  germinated  readily 
in  the  greenhouse  where  no  signs  of  frost  have  been. 


SOAKING  FRUIT  SEED— CRACKING  HARD  SEED    29 

Soaking  Fruit  Seed.  Frequently  germination  may  be 
hastened  by  soaking  the  seed  in  warm  water  for  some  time 
before  planting.  It  is  a  process,  however,  not  generally 
practiced  except  with  imported  seed,  as  it  is  attended  with 
some  risk.  Where  soaking  is  done  the  water  ought  to 
be  kept  near  one  hundred  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  changed 
at  least  once  each  day.  If  the  water  is  allowed  to  become 
stagnant,  the  seeds  may  be  coated  with  a  slime  mold 
resulting  in  a  rapid  deterioration  of  germinating  power. 
Twenty-four  to  forty-eight  hours  is  usually  enough  for 
the  smaller  seed,  while  the  large  seed  may  be  soaked  from 
three  to  ten  days.  When  removed  from  the  water  they 
should  be  planted  immediately  and  not  allowed  to  shrivel. 
Olive  seed  are  sometimes  helped  in  germinating  by  soaking 
for  two  days  in  a  four  per  cent  solution  of  caustic  potash. 

Cracking  Hard  Seed.  Most  hard  seeds  may  be  cracked 
before  planting  to  hasten  germination.  The  embryo  should 
not  be  removed  from  the  shell  but  a  crack  made  just  large 
enough  to  allow  moisture  to  enter.  Many  hard-shelled 
seeds  require  months  to  absorb  sufficient  moisture  to 
force  open  the  shell.  The  hammer  should  not  be  used  to 
crack  the  seed,  but  a  small  vise  in  which  each  one  may 
be  tightened  just  enough  to  start  an  opening. 

Testing  Seed.  Much  has  been  said  about  testing  fruit 
seed  before  planting.  The  prevailing  opinion  among  the 
best  nursery  growers  is  that  the  practice  is  not  worth 
while.  So  many  conditions  enter  in,  so  much  time  must 
be  consumed  in  making  the  test,  that  results  have  seldom 
been  satisfactory.  Germinating  tests  made  in  green- 
houses or  hot  beds  in  the  winter  never  correspond  to  the 


30  GROWING  THE  SEEDLINGS 

results  in  the  open  ground,   so  are  of   little  value  as  a 
guide. 

In  buying  seed  for  nursery  work  one  should  make  every 
effort  to  get  those  of  the  current  year's  growth,  and  then 
by  applying  a  number  of  mechanical  tests  a  fairly  accurate 
forecast  can  be  made.  Several  seeds  should  be  opened 
and  the  kernels  examined  with  a  lense.  If  it  is  plump, 
well  developed,  the  surface  showing  few  wrinkles  and  the 
embryo  fresh,  one  can  be  reasonably  sure  of  good  seed. 
Good  kernels  of  the  stone  fruits  should  not  show  a  gummed 
condition. 

Viability  of  Fruit  Seed.  No  very  accurate  experi- 
ments are  available  to  show  just  how  long  seeds  may  be 
kept  and  still  germinate.  One  can  be  reasonably  sure  that 
all  the  larger  seeds  when  once  thoroughly  dried  out  will 
never  germinate.  When  kept  under  best  known  condi- 
tions they  may  hold  their  vitality  for  a  long  time;  in  some 
cases  as  long  as  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

Many  nurserymen  have  commented  upon  the  fact  that 
the  germinating  qualities  are  widely  variable  from  year 
to  year.  The  year  the  seed  is  collected  the  per  cent  of 
germination  should  be  high;  the  second  year  low;  the  third 
year  high  again  and  so  on;  the  alternate  years  being  either 
high  or  low  in  the  per  cent  germinating.  In  the  writer's 
own  experience  peach  seeds  have  been  known  to  germinate 
eighty-five  per  cent  the  first  year,  ten  per  cent  the  second, 
seventy-five  the  third;  all  from  the  same  seed  crop.  These 
seeds  were  kept  in  a  bag  on  an  earthen  floor  in  a  damp 
but  not  wet  cellar. 


EEYIEW  QUESTIONS  31 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  is  stratification?    Why  necessary? 

2.  Give  the  different  methods  of  stratifying  seed. 

3.  Which  ones  are  adapted  to  large  nurseries  and  which  to  the 

use  of  the  orchardist? 

4.  Where  are  seed  beds  used?    How  made? 

5.  When  may  lath  houses  be  desirable? 

6.  What  fruit  seed  may  be  planted  direct  to  the  nursery  row? 

7.  When  may  seed  planters  be  used?    How  do  they  work? 

8.  Give  method  of  handling  apple  seed  on  a  large  scale. 

9.  Give  details  for  handling  large  seed  when  planters  are  used. 

10.  How  are  small  seeds  germinated  when  only  a  few  are  wanted? 

11.  How  are  seedlings  handled  when  allowed  to  grow  in  the  seed 

bed? 

12.  Discuss  the  value  of  shading  for  seed  beds. 

13.  How  do  fruit  seeds  behave  when  planted  hi  the  summer? 

14.  Discuss  the  necessity  of  freezing  hard  seed. 

15.  Discuss  the  value  of  soaking  hard  seed. 

16.  What  are  the  effects  of  cracking  fruit  seed? 

17.  How  are  fruit  seeds  tested? 

18.  Discuss  the  viability  of  fruit  seed. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE   NURSERY 

General  Considerations.  The  work  of  producing  nur- 
sery stock  is  usually  considered  as  a  business  independent  of 
that  of  fruit  growing,  and  in  most  cases  is  justly  so  treated. 
The  handling  of  a  large  nursery  requires  as  much  skill  and 
business  ability  as  the  handling  of  any  other  enterprise. 
The  novice  or  small  fruit  grower  is  usually  no  better  quali- 
fied to  grow  his  own  nursery  stock  than  he  would  be  to  make 
his  own  machinery.  On  the  other  hand  some  knowledge 
of  the  principles  of  the  business  is  essential  even  though 
the  hands  have  not  been  trained  in  the  details. 

Most  nurseries  have  their  limitations  due  to  the  vari- 
ous economic  principles  involved,  and  to  the  ability  of 
the  management;  and  it  has  frequently  happened  that  an 
individual  grower  having  some  knowledge  of  the  business 
and  a  large  amount  of  enthusiasm,  often  produces  better 
results  than  the  nurseryman.  Such  people  should  grow 
their  own  stock,  but  the  average  fruit  grower  having  but 
a  few  acres  of  orchard  along  with  general  farming  can  usually 
do  better  by  buying  nursery  stock  of  some  reliable  company. 
There  are,  however,  in  every  fruit-growing  section  orchard- 
ists  who  devote  their  major  efforts  to  the  production  of 
fruits,  and  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  grow  their  own  stock. 

It  is  no  longer  easy  to  start  a  nursery  business  on  a 

32 


POINTS  ON  LOCATION  33 

large  scale,  hence  the  beginner  will  need  to  investigate 
carefully  before  locating  his  place.  The  opportunities 
are  still  great  but  it  is  constantly  requiring  more  and  more 
skill  for  the  manager  of  a  nursery  company  to  be  success- 
ful. Competition  is  getting  greater  every  year  and  the 
margin  of  profit  for  most  of  the  plants  grown  is  gradually 
getting  smaller.  The  amount  of  capital  invested  is  in- 
creasing from  year  to  year,  and  while  it  is  possible  for  any 
one  to  start  a  nursery  on  a  limited  capital,  it  is  almost 
imperative  that  good,  strong  financial  backing,  to  the 
extent  of  several  thousand  dollars,  be  had  before  one  can 
be  assured  of  success. 

Points  on  Location.  The  individual  looking  for  a  place 
to  locate  a  general  nursery  will  need  to  consider  the  follow- 
ing conditions:  First,  he  must  have  climatic  conditions 
which  will  be  suitable  for  the  growing  of  a  large  variety 
of  nursery  stock.  Second,  that  few  companies  are  able 
to  grow  all  of  their  stock  in  any  one  location,  some  of  them 
being  spread  over  a  half  dozen  states.  Third,  he  should 
give  careful  attention  to  soil  conditions.  Nurseries  located 
on  side  hill  or  rolling  land  are  not  usually  favorable 
to  best  results.  More  or  less  level  land  is  necessary  and 
that  which  is  easily  workable  throughout  the  greater  part 
of  the  year.  The  soil  ought  to  be  deep,  well  drained,  with 
a  strong  rich  sub-soil  easy  to  maintain  in  fertility  require- 
ments. Fourth,  shipping  conveniences,  railroad  facili- 
ties, etc.,  should  always  be  considered.  As  much  of  the 
stock  has  to  be  shipped  long  distances,  the  better  the  loca- 
tion for  shipping  facilities,  the  more  favorable  will  be  the 
prospects.  Fifth,  he  should  give  considerable  attention 


34  THE  NURSERY 

to  the  surrounding  environments.  Our  best  nurseries 
are  located  in  the  best  fruit  producing  sections,  and  usually 
in  those  which  are  the  most  progressive.  It  is  not  the 
purpose  of  the  nurserymen  to  educate  the  people  to  buy 
certain  kinds  of  stock,  but  simply  to  grow  and  furnish 
the  people  what  they  want,  hence  a  location  in  a  poor 
fruit-producing  section  would  be  contrary  to  the  first 
principles  of  economics.  We  therefore  find,  that  our  largest 
and  best  nursery  companies  are  located  in  the  chief  centers 
of  production,  and  usually  in  the  most  progressive  and 
desirable  points  in  those  centers.  Accordingly  the  finan- 
cial returns  and  the  success  of  the  business  follows  as  a 
sequent. 

The  bulk  of  the  capital  invested  in  nurseries  lies  in  the 
central  or  more  thickly  populated  parts  of  the  United  States. 
This  is  largely  because  the  demand  of  the  surrounding 
territories  calls  for  their  particular  kind  of  fruit;  also, 
partly  to  the  fact  that  nursery  companies  located  farther 
south  or  north  could  not  supply  all  the  different  kinds  of 
materials  required  by  the  orchardists. 

Small  Nursery  Plats.  Anyone  contemplating  going 
into  the  nursery  business  as  a  special  line  or  on  a  large 
scale  would  find  it  advisable  to  take  an  apprenticeship 
course  with  some  of  the  larger  companies.  There  are 
plenty  of  opportunities  for  learning  the  ways  of  big  nur- 
series through  the  numerous  companies  now  in  existence. 
The  only  requisite  for  such  an  apprenticeship  is  a  willing- 
ness to  work  and  a  strong  desire  to  know  how  things  are 
done.  Nurserymen  are  always  willing  to  have  such  men 
around,  and  the  willingness  of  the  companies  to  retain  such 


NURSERY  SITE  35 

men  on  their  pay  roll  can  be  taken  as  a  fair  indication 
of  the  ability  of  the  individual  to  branch  out  in  the  work 
for  himself. 

It  is  always  possible  for  the  individual  to  get  into  the 
work  on  a  small  scale  and  grow  as  his  ability  and  capital 
warrants.  It  is  true  that  most  of  our  large  companies 
started  in  this  way,  and  while  times  and  conditions  have 
changed  some  opportunities  are  still  left. 

It  would  seem  best  in  this  connection  to  discuss  more 
in  detail  the  various  operations  applicable  to  the  small 
nursery  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  wish  to  go  into 
the  work  as  a  side  line  of  general  horticulture,  or  for  those 
who  are  just  starting  a  nursery  for  the  first  time.  It  is 
quite  generally  recommended  that  every  orchardist  or  horti- 
culturist grow  some  nursery  stock  in  connection  with  his 
business  even  though  it  be  only  for  experimental  pur- 
poses. Not  only  would  he  grow  the  fruits  which  are  stand- 
ard for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  his  orchard  but  also 
there  should  be  a  place  for  experimenting  with  new  varie- 
ties, novelties,  etc.  The  beginner,  under  such  conditions 
will  not  need  to  pay  so  much  attention  to  the  general 
environments  or  surroundings  as  the  one  who  is  in  the  busi- 
ness on  a  large  scale,  but  he  will  need  to  give  considerable 
thought  to  the  selection  of  his  plat  for  the  various  nursery 
operations,  and  should  also  understand  the  details  of  all 
the  general  practices. 

Nursery  Site.  In  many  cases  the  beginner  will  be 
handicapped  because  of  the  lack  of  suitable  conditions 
under  which  to  start  his  nursery.  However,  the  area 
needed  is  not  large  and  almost  every  fruit  farm  will  con- 


36  THE  NURSERY 

tain  some  small  place  that  can  be  used.  Among  the  things 
to  look  for  and  consider  might  be  mentioned  the  following: 
The  condition  of  the  soil,  ease  of  drainage  or  irrigation, 
protection  from  winds  or  snow  in  the  winter,  convenience 
in  handling  the  work  and  protection  from  the  various 
domestic  animals  which  may  be  kept  on  the  place. 

Soil  Requirements.  On  almost  every  fruit  farm  there 
is  some  place  where  the  soil  conditions  ought  to  be  satis- 
factory. The  best  soil  would  be  a  medium  sandy  loam 
with  a  depth  of  three  or  four  feet  for  deep  root  penetration. 
If  the  under  soil  is  too  hard,  the  roots  of  the  seedlings  will 
branch  too  much  and  become  crooked.  If  it  is  too  loose 
it  will  be  hard  to  maintain  fertility  and  get  the  proper 
growth.  A  little  clay  mixed  with  the  under  soil  sufficient 
to  get  a  branching  root  system  would  be  ideal.  The  top 
soil  should  contain  enough  sand  so  that  it  will  be  easily 
workable  and  will  not  puddle  after  rains  or  storms.  If 
the  surface  soil  is  heavy  enough  to  form  a  crust  after  each 
rain,  it  will  be  difficult  to  give  sufficient  cultivation,  and 
also  the  young  seedlings  will  have  trouble  in  pushing 
through  to  the  surface.  A  garden  loam  which  is  in  good 
cultivation  and  well  cared  for  would  do  well  for  a  small 
nursery  plat.  Many  streams  or  creeks  have  places  along 
their  courses  with  unusually  rich  soil  which  will  make 
ideal  conditions  for  nursery  trees.  Such  places  should 
of  course  be  above  the  high  water  mark. 

Drainage.  The  nursery  plat  should  be  well  drained. 
Water  should  not  stand  over  the  surface  during  the  winter 
and  the  subsoil  ought  to  drain  off  readily  in  the  spring  down 
to  a  depth  of  at  least  three  feet.  This  is  necessary  to  se- 


PROTECTION  FROM  WIND  AND  SNOW  37 

cure  good  root  action  in  the  spring.  If  water  stands  above 
this  level  the  roots  will  not  penetrate  into  it.  Where  con- 
ditions are  such  that  a  dry  season  occurring  during  the 
summer  or  fall  is  liable  to  affect  the  growth  of  the  seedlings, 
then  if  irrigation  could  be  provided  for,  so  much  the  better. 
In  the  eastern  and  northern  states  the  so-called  "  Skinner 
System/'  Fig.  11,  of  irrigation  has  been  found  to  be  highly 


FIG.    11. — The  Skinner  System  of  Irrigation. 

efficient  in  helping  to  produce  good  growth.  In  the  south 
and  west,  the  ordinary  methods  of  irrigation  where  ditches 
are  used  to  convey  the  water  between  the  rows  is  the  com- 
mon practice. 

Protection  from  Wind  and  Snow.  In  the  northern 
or  colder  part  of  the  United  States,  some  thought  should 
be  given  to  protection  for  the  nursery  plat  during  the 
winter  months.  A  few  large  trees  along  one  side  of  the 


38  THE  NURSERY 

nursery  or  other  natural  protections  such  as  buildings, 
low  hills  or  woodlots  is  desirable.  The  protected  side  of 
a  good  orchard  would  be  sufficient  in  most  cases.  Such 
protected  places  are  frequently  troubled  by  the  accumu- 
lation of  large  drifts  of  snow.  Wherever  the  velocity  of 
the  wind  is  checked  the  snow  tends  to  pile  up.  Such  condi- 
tions should  be  guarded  against  by  leaving  about  fifty 


FIG.  12. — A  Maine  Nursery  with  Good  Natural  Protection. 

feet  of  open  space  between  the  barrier  and  the  first  of  the 
nursery  planting.  Every  orchardist  should  be  familiar 
enough  with  his  own  place  to  know  where  such  drifts 
accumulate  and  where  open  though  protected  places  can 
be  found. 

Protection  from  Animals.  The  nursery  should  be  well 
protected  against  the  intrusion  of  any  domestic  animals 
which  may  be  kept  in  the  vicinity  of  the  plat.  Small 


SIZE  AND  PREPARATION  OF  THE  PLAT  39 

nurseries  can  be  damaged  beyond  repair  in  a  very  short 
time  by  the  intrusion  of  one  horse  or  cow,  and  this  often 
discourages  the  orchardist  to  attempt  any  serious  opera- 
tions. Interest  can  be  maintained  only  where  conditions 
can  be  controlled.  High  wire  fences  built  to  keep  out 
all  intruders  (even  poultry)  are  essential  to  the  success 
of  the  small  nursery.  If,  in  addition  to  the  above,  the 
plat  could  be  located  near  the  residence  more  interest 
would  be  taken. 

Size  of  the  Plat.  This  will  depend  entirely  upon  cir- 
cumstances. The  average  orchardist  who  may  have  thirty 
or  forty  acres  of  fruit  will  need  only  a  very  small  tract. 
One  acre  in  nursery  trees  will  run  from  five  thousand  to 
eight  thousand  plants.  Ordinarily  a  small  piece  of  land 
thirty  or  forty  feet  wide  and  fifty  long  will  accommodate 
a  large  number  of  nursery  trees.  If  the  intention  is  to 
grow  some  for  sale,  the  size  could  be  increased  to  suit 
the  needs  of  the  individual.  The  beginner  often  makes  the 
mistake  of  attempting  too  large  a  tract  for  his  first  efforts. 

Preparation  of  the  Plat.  For  best  results  this  ought 
to  be  done  in  the  fall.  A  good  coat  of  barnyard  manure 
or  compost  should  be  applied  late  in  the  fall  and  plowed 
under,  turning  the  furrows  to  a  depth  of  eight  or  nine 
inches.  If  the  sub-soil  is  inclined  to  be  hard  the  use  of  a 
sub-soiler  will  help  materially.  The  ground  should  be 
levelled  off,  smoothed  down  and  any  uneven  places  filled 
up.  If  the  plot  has  been  neglected  for  several  years  and 
grown  up  to  grasses  that  are  hard  to  eradicate  or  is  full 
of  foul  weeds,  one  season's  summer-fallow  would  be  ad- 
visable, Good  nursery  trees  can  only  be  grown  where 


40  THE  NURSEEY 

the  best  culture  is  given  and  numerous  weeds  always  add 
to  the  expense  and  difficulty  of  cultivation. 

The  rows  should  be  laid  out  the  long  way  so  as  to  make 
use  of  horse  cultivation  wherever  possible.  If  too  much 
is  left  for  handwork,  the  probabilities  are  that  it  will  be 
neglected;  and  many  efforts  have  failed  purely  because 
too  little  was  done  by  team  work  and  too  much  left  for  the 
hands.  If  the  plat  could  be  so  arranged  that  the  rows 
might  run  one  hundred  feet  in  length,  even  though  they 
were  only  four  or  five  rows  wide,  the  results  would  be  better 
in  the  end. 

Planting.  The  work  of  planting  the  seeds  will  depend 
entirely  on  whether  the  seeds  are  stratified  in  seed  beds  or 
whether  planted  direct  to  the  nursery  row.  With  apple, 
pear  and  quince  seed,  better  results  could  probably  be 
had  by  planting  direct  to  the  nursery  row  in  the  spring.  If 
the  seed  is  clean,  a  furrow  should  be  made  about  three  inches 
deep  and  the  seeds  scattered  along  in  these  and  covered  up, 
leaving  a  little  ridge  two  or  three  inches  high  where  the 
row  was.  The  larger  seeds  where  stratified  in  the  seed 
bed  should  be  moved  to  similar  rows  early  in  the  spring. 
Or  they  may  be  left  to  come  up  in  the  seed  bed  and  trans- 
planted to  the  nursery  row  after  the  second  pair  of  leaves 
appear.  In  such  cases  they  would  be  planted  three  or 
four  inches  apart  in  the  row.  The  rows  should  be  suf- 
ficiently wide,  three  feet  is  the  common  width,  to  permit 
the  use  of  horse  cultivators. 

Setting  out  Imported  Seedlings.  If  the  seedlings  are 
purchased  from  other  sources  and  are  grown  simply  for  the 
purpose  of  budding  or  grafting,  then  the  planting  should  be 


SETTING  OUT  IMPORTED  SEEDLINGS 


41 


changed  slightly.  A  furrow  six  or  eight  inches  deep  is  made 
by  a  special  plow,  Fig.  13,  or  may  be  dug  by  hand.  The  roots 
of  the  seedlings  are  cut  back  leaving  five  or  six  inches  below 
the  ground  line.  These  are  then  set  in  the  furrows  about 
six  inches  apart  and  the  soil  pulled  in  and  pressed  around 
the  roots.  A  dibber  or  small  hand  hoe  is  used  for  this  pur- 


FIG.  13. — A  Trencher  for  Making  Furrows  for  Seedlings. 

pose.  A  cultivator  with  a  special  attachment  for  filling 
the  remainder  of  the  ditch  and  firming  the  soil  around 
the  roots  is  then  run  over  the  rows,  which  completes  the 
process.  This  same  method  is  also  used  in  setting  out 
apple  root  grafts  in  the  spring.  The  customary  practice 
is  to  root  graft  the  apple  before  planting  and  set  pears  as 
seedlings  to  be  budded  through  the  summer.  The  setting 


42 


THE  NURSERY 


out  process  is  essentially  the  same  except  that  the  grafts 
must  be  handled  with  more  care.  Where  apples  are  budded 
the  treatment  would  be  the  same  as  for  pears. 

If  only  a  few  seedlings  are  to  be  planted  the  dibble 
and  a  line  to  get  straight  rows,  would  be  sufficient.  If 
the  ground  is  in  good,  mellow  condition  the  work  can  be 


FIG.  14. — A  Firmer  Used  in  Packing  the   Soil  Around  the  Planted 

Seedlings. 

done  quite  rapidly.  The  operator  crawls  along  the  line 
on  his  knees,  makes  the  holes  and  sets  the  plants  as  he 
goes. 

Cultural  Methods.  As  soon  as  the  seeds  begin  to 
sprout  in  the  spring  or  growth  starts  on  the  seedlings,  culti- 
vation should  commence.  Where  ridges  were  left  over  the 
seed-rows,  these  should  be  raked  off  very  carefully,  Fig.  15, 


CULTURAL  METHODS, 


43 


I 


44 


THE  NURSERY 


CULTURAL  METHODS 


45 


the  object  being  to  remove  the  weeds,  grass,  etc.,  which 
may  be  growing  on  the  row,  and  also  give  the  little  seedlings 
a  better  chance  to  get  through  to  the  surface.  From  this 
time  on  clean  culture  should  be  given;  all  weeds  in  the  row 
kept  out  by  hand  hoeing  and  the  soil  stirred  with  a  horse 


FIG.  17. — Finning  the  Ground  after  Cultivating. 

cultivator  once  every  tveek  or  ten  days  throughout  the  sea- 
son. As  about  one-third  of  the  average  nursery  is  in 
seedlings  considerable  hand  labor  is  necessary. 

If  the  soil  is  deficient  in  fertility  the  addition  of  com- 
post or  commercial  fertilizers  may  be  necessary.  If  there 
is  not  sufficient  rainfall  to  maintain  a  good  growth  through- 


46  THE  NURSERY 

out  the  season,  the  addition  of  water  may  be  required.  The 
seedlings  should  make  a  steady  growth  and  not  be  checked 
for  the  lack  of  moisture. 

Spraying.  It  will  hardly  be  possible  to  grow  good 
seedlings  without  suffering  from  the  effects  of  insects  or 
fungus  diseases.  It  is  usually  necessary  to  spray  nursery 
stock  from  one  to  three  times  during  the  growing  season. 
Early  in  the  season  bordeaux  mixture  or  lime  sulphur  can 
be  used,  and  later,  if  necessary,  arsenate  of  lead  may  be 
included  with  the  others.  The  same  strength  of  sprays 
is  used  as  for  older  trees.  Often  the  apple  aphis  will  appear 
and  in  such  cases  they  should  be  sprayed  with  tobacco 
extract.  If  the  spraying  is  carefully  attended  to,  the  seed- 
lings should  grow  to  a  height  of  from  two  to  three  feet  the 
first  year,  and  have  a  diameter  sufficient  to  either  bud  or 
graft  as  the  case  may  be. 

Fall  Treatment  of  Seedlings.  If  the  seedlings  are 
grown  to  sell  as  such,  they  are  dug  up  in  the  fall  and  given 
a  special  treatment.  Where  they  are  to  be  used  for  propa- 
gation, only  those  that  are  to  be  grafted  are  dug,  the  others 
remaining  as  they  are  until  ready  to  be  used  as  a  nursery 
tree.  The  apple  is  the  only  fruit  that  is  root-grafted  to 
any  considerable  extent,  and  the  fall  treatment  for  such 
seedlings  is  best  described  by  F.  W.  Watson  of  Topeka, 
Kansas,  who  says: 

"  We  use  a  digger  similar  to  a  tree  digger,  excepting 
in  width;  it  is  only  ten  inches  wide.  Seedlings  are  cut 
at  a  depth  of  sixteen  inches.  The  pullers  follow  the  digger 
closely,  pulling,  bunching,  tying  and  burying  the  seedlings 
in  a  deep  furrow  in  the  field,  Fig.  18.  Only  a  few  minutes 


FALL  TREATMENT  OF  SEEDLINGS  *« 

elapse  between  the  time  the  digger  passes  under  the  seed- 
lings until  they  are  pulled,  buried  and  covered,  tops  and 
all.  If  the  pullers  do  not  follow  closely  to  the  digger, 
and  the  seedlings  should  stand  for  an  hour  or  so  in  the 
hot  sun  or  a  high  wind  after  cutting,  they  will  become 


FIG.  18. — Burying  Apple  Seedlings  to  Remove  Leaves. 

soft  and  willowy,  with  a  tendency  to  die  back  at  the  tip, 
showing  their  loss  of  vitality. 

"  After  seedlings  have  been  buried  in  the  field  for  fifteen 
or  twenty  days,  the  leaves  begin  to  drop  off,  and  it  is  then 
safe  to  take  them  up  and  haul  them  to  the  grading  cellar. 
Here  they  are  buried  in  beds  in  a  convenient  place  near 
to  where  they  are  to  be  graded.  In  these  beds  the  bunches 
stand  upright,  they  are  wet  when  put  in,  and  covered  with 


48 


THE  NURSERY 


FALL  TREATMENT  OF  SEEDLINGS  49 

dirt  until  only  an  occasional  top  is  exposed,  then  a  cover 
of  manure  or  leaves  is  spread  and  they  are  left  in  this  way 
for  several  weeks  in  order  to  sweat  the  balance  of  the 
leaves  off  before  grading.  Here  is  our  last  danger  point — 
if  a  heavy  rain  or  a  late  warm  spell  should  come,  the  bed 


FIG.  20. — Storage  Cellar  in  which  Apple  Seedlings  are  Handled. 

is  liable  to  heat  and  the  entire  crop  may  burn  up.  There 
is  no  sure  preventive  against  burning,  but  by  using  a  liberal 
quantity  of  dirt  between  the  layers  when  the  seedlings 
are  trenched-in  the  liability  may  be  lessened 

"  Grading  begins  about  December  the  first,  in  cellars  (Fig. 
20)  built  for  this  purpose.  Seedlings  are  hauled  in  from  the 
beds,  run  over  the  '  Shaker  '  to  get  out  the  leaves  and  dirt 


FIG.  21.— Apple  Seedlings.    No.  1  Straight. 
50 


FIG.  22. -Apple  Seedlings,  No.  2  Straight. 
51 


52  THE  NURSERY 

from  the  bunches,  and  placed  upon  the  benches,  where 
each  man  takes  out  his  particular  grade.  Several  will 
take  out  No.  1  straight,  and  pile  what  are  left  on  another 
bench.  Here  the  next  grade,  No.  1  branched,  are  separated, 
and  so  on,  passing  from  bench  to  bench  until  all  the  dif- 
ferent grades  have  been  taken  out.  Each  man  continues 
on  the  same  grade  during  the  grading  season.  As  soon  as 
graded  the  seedlings  are  tied  in  bunches  and  go  through  a 
trap  door  to  the  storage  cellars,  where  the  packing  and  ship- 
ping is  done. 

Grades  of  Seedlings.  "  An  ideal  No.  1  straight  (Fig.  21) 
apple  seedling  is  one  that  is  fourteen  to  sixteen  inches  long,  is 
at  least  three-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter  at  the  collar 
and  three-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter  seven  inches 
below  the  collar,  and  continued  straight  between  the  two 
points.  An  ideal  No.  2  seedling  (Fig.  22)  is  one  that  is  twelve 
inches  long,  is  at  least  two-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter 
at  the  collar  and  is  two-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter 
seven  inches  below  the  collar  and  continues  straight  be- 
tween these  two  points.  An  ideal  No.  1  branched  seedling 
(Fig.  23)  is  one  that  is  at  least  three-sixteenths  of  an  inch 
in  diameter  at  the  collar  and  has  three  or  more  roots,  well 
distributed,  not  exceeding  three  and  one-half  inches  below 
the  collar.  A  No.  3  seedling  is  one  that  is  two-sixteenths  of 
an  inch  in  diameter  at  the  collar  but  fails  to  carry  its  diam- 
eter of  two-sixteenths  far  enough  down  to  grade  No.  2; 
it  is  sometimes  branched. 

"  A  peculiar  thing  about  the  growing  of  apple  seedlings 
is  the  fact  that  they  cannot  be  grown  with  profit  in  small 
quantities.  If  a  firm  uses  only  100,000  to  300,000  in  a 


GRADES  OF  SEEDLINGS 


53 


season,  it  is  economical  to  buy  rather  than  to  grow  them. 
There  is  no  profit  ordinarily  in  growing  as  small  a  lot  as 


FIG.  23. — Apple  Seedlings,  No.  1  Branched. 

five    acres.      This   condition  arises   from  the  fact    that   to 
properly   handle  the   seedlings  it  takes  special  tools,  drills, 


54  THE  NURSEEY 

cultivators,  diggers,  cellars,  all  expensive  equipment  that 
can  be  used  for  no  other  purpose. 

"  The  result  is  that  the  growing  of  all  the  twenty  to 
forty  millions  of  American  grown  apple  seedlings  that  are 
used  in  this  country  every  year  is  undertaken  by  less  than 
a  dozen  firms." 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  are  the  present-day  opportunities  to  develop  a  large 

nursery  business  and  what  should  the  beginner  do? 

2.  What  are  the  essential  cousiderations  in  choosing  a  nursery 

site? 

3.  What  place  should  the  small  nursery  occupy  in  connection 

with  orcharding? 

4.  Discuss  the  soil  requirements  for  the  small  nursery  plat. 

5.  What  should  be  the  practice  in  regard  to  irrigation  and  drain- 

age? 

6.  Discuss  the  importance  of  protection  of  the  plat  from  wind, 

snow,  animals,  etc. 

7.  How  much  land  would  the  beginner  or  the  orchardist  need  for 

nursery  work? 

8.  WTiat  is  necessary  in  the  preparation  of  the  plat? 

9.  How  would  the  seed  be  handled  for  the  small  plat? 

10.  How  are  imported  seedlings  handled? 

11.  What  treatment  is  necessary  in  the  summer  culture  of  the 

plat? 

12.  Discuss  spraying  in  connection  with  the  growing  of  seedlings. 

13.  What  is  the  usual  fall  treatment  for  seedlings? 

14.  How  are  apple  seedlings  handled  on  a  large  scale? 

15.  What  are  the  standard  grades  for  apple  seedlings? 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

Budding  or  Grafting.  In  working  over  nursery  stock 
to  standard  varieties  two  methods  are  available:  One  to 
graft,  the  other  to  bud.  These  two  methods  do  not  differ 
widely  in  principle  but  the  details  of  execution  are  mate- 
rially unlike.  In  the  first  place  the  process  of  budding 
is  always  associated  with  the  active  growing  plant  while 
grafting  must  be  done  while  the  trees  are  dormant.  In 
the  former,  a  single  bud  with  some  of  the  closely  surround- 
ing bark  tissue  is  used  to  start  the  new  tree  while  in  the 
latter  two  or  more  buds  with  their  connecting  internodes 
are  used.  In  grafting,  the  piece  bearing  the  buds  is  called 
the  cion  while  the  plant  into  which  it  is  set  is  called  the  stock. 

Whether  nurserymen  should  bud  or  graft  the  major 
part  of  their  stock  would  depend  upon  the  ease  and  economy 
with  which  the  work  could  be  done  rather  than  upon  any 
scientific  principles  involved.  Either  method  will  produce 
equally  good  trees.  The  cost  of  production,  however, 
varies  widely  and  as  would  be  expected  the  practice  among 
nurserymen  throughout  the  United  States  is  the  outgrowth 
of  certain  economic  conditions  made  necessary  in  the  adjust- 
ing of  their  work  to  local  environments. 

Certain  practices  have  become  quite  generally  estab- 
lished over  a  considerable  part  of  the  country,  while  others 

55 


56          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

due  to  peculiar  climatic  conditions  or  to  the  length  of  the 
growing  season  are  widely  variable.  It  is  the  practice 
among  nursery  companies  of  the  southern  and  western 
states  to  bud  practically  all  of  the  stone  fruits  while  the  apple 
and  in  some  cases  the  pear  and  the  various  nuts  are  grafted. 
In  the  central  states  the  apple  is  the  chief  fruit  grafted,  all 
others  being  more  easily  budded.  In  the  colder  parts  of 
the  United  States  the  practice  is  to  bud  almost  everything. 
The  only  wide  difference  between  the  eastern  and  western 
states  is  the  method  used  on  the  nut  fruits.  In  the  more 
arid  regions  of  the  west  grafting  is  preferred,  while  in  the 
humid  conditions  of  the  south  and  east  budding  is  the  usual 
practice. 

Most  growers  agree  that  the  budding  operations  are 
cheaper  and  come  at  a  time  of  tho  year  when  it  is  easier 
to  do  the  work,  also  some  time  is  saved  in  the  number  of 
years  required  to  grow  good  nursery  trees.  The  stone 
fruits  make  a  very  rapid  growth,  are  relatively  short-lived 
and  adaptable  to  a  wide  area.  The  pome  fruits  grow  more 
slowly,  and  more  care  and  expense  is  necessary  to  pro- 
duce a  first-class  nursery  tree.  The  various  citrus  fruits 
are  still  more  difficult  to  grow  and  can  only  be  handled 
successfully  in  a  few  of  the  warmer  places  of  the  United 
States.  The  hardest  of  all  nursery  trees  to  grow  are  the 
nut  fruits.  This  is  in  part  due  to  the  fact  that  nuts  have 
not  been  propagated  for  a  very  long  time  and  the  best 
methods  of  handling  them  have  not  been  worked  out. 

The  Prevailing  Practice.  If  any  general  classification 
of  the  modern  methods  of  nursery  propagation  were  possible, 
the  following  would  represent  a  fair  average  condition: 


THE  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 


57 


Fruit 


Almonds 

Apricots 

Apples 

Avocadros 

Cherries : 

Dates I 

Figs 

Grapes § 

Kumquats 

Lemons 

Limes 

Loquats 

Mandarins 

Mangos 

Mulberries t 

Oranges 

Olives t 

Peaches 

Pears t 

Pecans 

Plums 

Persimmons 

Pomelos 

Prunes 

Quinces t 

Walnuts 


Budding 


Grafting 


Cuttings 


*  The  usual  method. 
fMay  be  used. 


§  Occasionally  used. 
JXot  practicable. 


The  Budding  Operations.  The  process  of  budding 
consists  of  cutting  a  dormant  bud  from  a  tree  which  grows 
the  desired  fruit  and  inserting  it  under  the  bark  of  the 
tree  on  which  it  is  to  be  grown.  There  are  many  points 
to  consider  in  the  handling  of  the  buds  and  in  the  select- 
ing of  the  best  kinds.  Considerable  skill  is  necessary  in 
the  cutting  of  the  bud  as  well  as  in  the  process  of  setting 


58 


THE  DIFFEEENT  BUDDING  OPEEATIONS 


and  tying.  The  work  is  done  in  the  nursery  row  and  can 
best  be  handled  by  two  people;  one  to  cut  and  place  the 
buds,  and  one  to  follow  with -the  tying.  The  various  steps 
in  the  process  of  budding  may  be  classified  as  follows: 


FIG.  24. — Standard  Types  of  Budding  Knives. 


1.  Stripping  the  seedlings. 

3.  Inserting  the  bud. 

5.  Loosening  the  ties. 

7.  Sprouting. 


2.  Cutting  the  buds. 
4.  Tying  up. 
6.  Cutting  back. 


Tools  for  Budding.  Very  few  tools  are  required  for  the 
work  of  budding.  The  essentials  are  a  good  sharp  knife 
and  some  material  for  tying  the  buds.  There  are  numerous 


STRIPPING  THE  SEEDLINGS 


59 


makes  of  knives  on  the  market,  but  any  one  of  the  three 
shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration  (Fig.  24)  will  answer. 
A  and  B  are  the  common  ones  while  C,  an  imported  one, 
may  be  used  for  both  budding  and  grafting.  For  the  wrap- 
ping, two  different  materials  are  available;  a  soft  cotton 


FIG.  25. — Peach  Seedlings,  the  Right  Size  for  Stripping. 

string  and  raffia.  The  latter  is  a  fiber  from  one  of  the 
fan  palms  and  makes  a  very  desirable  tie.  The  strands 
are  thin  and  flat,  making  it  easy  to  cover  the  bud. 

Stripping  the  Seedlings.  The  first  process  in  the 
actual  work  of  budding  is  to  "  strip  "  the  young  seed- 
lings. This  is  done  by  removing  the  leaves  from  the 
first  three  or  four  inches  next  to  the  ground,  about  the  time 


60          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

the  seedling  reaches  the  height  of  eight  or  ten  inches.  The 
object  of  this  is  to  have  a  clear,  smooth  place  for  the  budder 
to  work.  If  the  bottom  leaves  are  not  removed  they  soon 
develop  into  small  branches  which  by  fall,  often  seriously 
interfere  with  the  budding  process.  The  stripping  is  accom- 
plished in  the  manner  illustrated  in  the  accompanying 
picture,  Fig.  26.  The  tree  is  held  by  the  left  hand  while  the 


m 


WMSi^-^^^^^gl:^ 

FIG.  26. — Stripping  the  Young  Seedlings. 

thumb  and  two  first  fingers  arc  slid  down  to  the  bottom, 
removing  the  lower  leaves  at  one  stroke.  The  scars  left  by 
the  leaves  heal  over  in  a  few  weeks  and  by  the  time  the 
young  trees  have  attained  a  diameter  of  one-quarter  inch 
they  are  ready  for  the  budder. 

Kinds  of  Budding.  There  are  many  different  names 
applied  to  the  various  budding  operations,  but  four  have 
become  more  or  less  general  and  arc  here  accepted  as  the 


JUNE  BUDDING  AND  DORMANT  BUDDING         61 

ones  best  suited  to  the  different  processes.  These  may  be 
listed  as:  June  Budding,  Dormant  Budding,  Twig  Budding 
and  Bark  Budding.  The  first  two  are  sometimes  listed  as 
"  Shield  Budding  "  and  are  used  almost  entirely  on  the 
common  deciduous  fruits.  Twig  Budding  is  used  on  the 
evergreen  fruit  trees  such  as  the  olive,  loquat,  avocadro 
and  sometimes  on  the  citrus  fruits.  Bark  Budding  is 
adaptable  to  those  fruit, trees  which  have  an  unusually 
thick  bark,  such  as  the  walnuts,  pecans,  figs,  etc.  This 
process  varies  considerably  in  detail  and  is  sometimes 
known  as  "  Flute,"  "Ring,"  "Chip,"  or  "  Bark  "  budding. 
The  last  named  seems  to  fit  all  the  conditions  and  is  there- 
fore selected  as  the  best  name. 

June  Budding  and  Dormant  Budding.  These  do  not 
differ  in  so  far  as  the  inserting  of  the  bud  is  concerned, 
but  the  time  of  insertion  and  the  subsequent  handling 
differ  considerably.  The  June  bud,  as  the  name  implies, 
is  put  in  early  in  the  season  and  an  attempt  is  made  to 
force  it  into  growth  the  same  year;  while  with  the  dormant 
bud,  the  insertion  is  made  later  in  the  season,  and  the 
efforts  are  directed  toward  keeping  it  dormant  until  the 
following  spring.  In  the  June  bud,  an  attempt  is  made  to 
produce  a  nursery  tree  from  seed  in  one  year,  while  with 
the  Dormant  bud  two  or  more  years  are  required.  The 
former  can  only  be  accomplished  in  the  more  temperate 
climates  where  the  trees  have  a  long  growing  season  and 
where  the  young  buds  can  grow  late  into  the  fall  without 
frost  injury  to  the  tender  shoots.  Even  then,  only  the 
rapid  growing  plants  like  the  peach  or  the  almond  can  be 
successfully  treated.  All  through  the  south  and  the  south- 


62          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 


FIG.  27— Making  the  "  T  "  Cut  for  the  Bud. 


FIG.  28. — Cutting  the  Buds. 


INSERTING  THE  BUD 


63 


west  dormant  budding  is  the  prevailing  custom,  although 
many  nursery  companies  list  June  buds  as  a  part  of  their 
regular  stock. 

Inserting  the  Bud.     The  process  of  inserting  the  bud 
can  best  be  understood  by  referring  to  the  accompanying 


. 

FIG.  29.— Inserting  the  Bud. 

photographs  (Figs.  27,  28  and  29).  The  budder  kneels 
on  the  ground,  bends  the  tree  over  and  places  it  between 
his  left  arm  and  his  body,  selects  a  smooth  place  on  the 
bark,  from  one  to  two  inches  above  the  ground,  and  with 
two  strokes  of  the  knife  makes  a  T-shaped  cut  and  slips 
in  the  bud.  In  regular  nursery  practice  the  budder  does 


64          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

not  do  his  own  tying,  but  is  followed  by  a  boy  who  snugl3r 
wraps  the  bud  with  either  cord  or  raffia.  This  should  be 
done  immediately  after  the  bud  is  inserted  and  the  wraps 
should  be  tight  enough  so  the  bud  will  be 'held  firmly  in 
place  and  cannot  dry  out.  The  tie  should  be  so  made 
that  the  growing  point  of  the  bud  will  not  be  covered. 
It  is  usually  best  to  place  all  the  buds  on  one  side  of  the 
plant  and  away  from  the  sun  as  much  as  possible.  This 
will  help  to  prevent  a  possible  injury  from  sun  scald  during 
the  winter.  In  some  of  the  more  arid  regions  of  the  west, 
it  is  necessary  to  cover  the  tie  with  wax  as  an  additional 
precaution  against  drying. 

After  Treatment.  If  the  intention  is  to  produce  a 
June  bud,  four  or  five  inches  are  cut  off  the  top  of  the  plant 
as  soon  as  the  bud  is  in  place.  If  a  dormant  bud  is  desired, 
no  pruning  will  be  necessary  until  the  following  spring. 
About  ten  days  or  two  weeks  after  the  buds  have  been 
set,  the  trees  should  be  gone  over  and  the  bands  cut  to  pre- 
vent them  from  drawing  into  the  bark  by  the  growth  of  the 
tree.  To  produce  successful  June  buds  the  trees  have  to 
be  gone  over  three  or  four  times  during  the  season  and  a 
portion  of  the  top  cut  off.  This  removing  of  the  top  forces 
the  bud  from  below  and  by  the  time  it  reaches  one  or  two 
inches  the  entire  top  can  be  cut  close  down  to  the  bud  so 
that  the  young  shoot  will  take  all  the  sap.  If  the  work 
has  been  properly  done  the  young  shoots  ought  to  be 
eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  by  fall. 

For  Dormant  budding  the  work  can  be  done  any  time 
the  bark  will  peel  well,  from  July  until  late  in  the  fall.  It 
is  necessary  to  go  over  the  trees  and  loosen  the  ties,  but  no 


AFTER  TREATMENT 


65 


cutting  back  is  done  until  the  following  spring.  Occasion- 
ally, the  buds  put  in  early  will  start  the  same  year  but  this 
only  happens  in  the  south  where  the  winters  are  not  severe 
enough  to  cause  much  injury.  In  the  spring  as  soon  as 
growth  starts  the  trees  are  gone  over  and  cut  back  to 


FIG.  30. — Peach  Budded  on  Almond.     One  Dormant — One  Growing. 

just  above  the  bud.  As  growth  starts  slowly  in  the  spring, 
the  bud  is  able  to  carry  all  the  sap  and  ought  to  make  a 
rapid  growth  throughout  the  summer,  producing  a  tree 
from  five  to  seven  feet  tall  in  the  southern  states  and  from 
three  to  five  in  the  northern.  The  more  rapid  growing 
kinds  of  fruit  will  make  a  desirable  nursery  tree  in  one 


66 


THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 


year  from  bud  while  the  slower  growing  ones  will  require 
two,  and  in  a  very  few  cases,  three. 

Budding  Practice  in  Large  Nurseries.  Nursery  com- 
panies that  have  to  bud  a  good  many  thousand  trees  an- 
nually have  to  work  out  a  very  careful  system  in  handling 


FIG.  31. — Budders  and  Wrappers  in  Greenings'  Nursery.      Munroe, 

Mich. 


the  work  in  order  to  keep  the  varieties  from  getting  mixed. 
The  usual  method  in  such  cases  is  to  divide  the  work  up 
into  numerous  divisions  and  let  one  person  continue  on  the 
same  operation  throughout  the  season.  The  one  who 
cuts  buds  will  do  nothing  else;  the  budders  do  the  budding 
only;  the  tyers  nothing  but  tying  and  so  on.  Only  one 
variety  is  budded  at  a  time,  and  before  a  new  one  is  started 


TWIG  BUDDING 


67 


all  the  left-over  buds  are  disposed  of,  and  the  ones  budded 
are  located  on  a  permanent  map. 

Hundreds  of  men  are  often  employed  in  a  single  nur- 
sery and  it  is  not  strange  that  mistakes  occur.  The  ability 
of  the  management  to  keep  varieties  true  to  name  is  the 
greatest  factor  in  the  success  of  the  business. 

Twig  Budding.  Many  times  it  is  desirable  to  bud 
when  no  dormant  buds  are  available.  When  growth  starts 


RG.  32. — Twig  Bud.     If  Leaf  Area  is  too  Large  it  Should  be  Cut  Back. 

in  the  spring  all  the  winter  buds  grow  out  and  two  to  three 
months  must  elapse  before  others  form  suitable  for  propa- 
gation. During  this  period  twig  budding  may  be  done. 
The  process  is  better  adapted  to  the  evergreen  fruits,  such 
as  the  olive  and  citrus  fruits,  but  may  be  used  as  well  on 
the  deciduous  kinds. 

In  budding,  a  growing  shoot  having  but  two  or  three 
small  leaves  is  selected,  cut  from  the  branch  the  same  as 
the  dormant  bud  and  inserted  in  the  same  manner.  The 


68          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

cut  should  be  made  deep,  and  a  part  of  the  wood  on  the 
underside  removed  so  that  the  bark  on  the  bud  will  fit 
close  to  the  wood  of  the  stock  and  a  larger  cambium  con- 
tact made.  The  fingers  should  never  touch  the  cambium 
layers  of  either  stock  or  bud  as  the  oil  from  the  hands  is 
sure  to  prevent  their  growth.  The  insertion  should  be 
made  very  quickly  to  prevent  wilting  of  the  little  leaflets, 
and  then  tied  in  the  same  manner  as  for  the  other  buds. 
If  narrow  strips  of  waxed  cloth  ba  used  in  place  of  raffia, 
results  will  be  better  as  there  is  less  danger  of  drying. 

After  three  or  four  weeks,  or  as  soon  as  the  bud  "  takes," 
the  wrapping  should  be  removed  and  part  of  the  top  cut 
away  to  increase  the  flow  of  sap  to  the  young  shoot.  If 
the  forcing  is  too  much  the  bud  may  be  flooded  and  the 
work  lost.  As  the  season  advances  more  of  the  top  can  be 
removed,  a  little  at  a  time,  until  the  bud  can  take  all  of  the 
sap.  The  stock  is  then  cut  off  just  above  the'bud  making 
a  close,  smooth  scar  which  will  soon%heal  over.  This 
method  is  too  tedious  for  commSrciai  practice  and  is  best 
adapted  to  the  working  over  of  young  trees  or  in  adding 
new  branches  where  the  shape  of  the  tree  is  to  be  corrected. 

Bark  Budding.  This  represents  a  type  of  propagation 
that  has  been  in  use  for  a  long  tin^  but  only  in  recent 
years  has  become  of  general  importance.  It  is  best 
adapted  to  thick-barked  trees  such  as  figs,  walnuts,  pecans, 
etc.  All  of  these  kinds  of  fruit  trees  are  much  more  dif- 
ficult to  bud  than  the  common  ones  and  even  under  the 
present  best  known  methods  it  is  difficult  to  get  a  high 
per  cent  to  "  take."  The  bark  is  too  thick  for  the  common 
budding  methods  to  work  successfully,  hence  bark  budding 


BAKK  BUDDING  69 

has  recently  become  the  popular  method  for  propagating 
these  kinds  of  fruit. 

The  work  is  performed  by  removing  a  piece  of  bark, 
about  one  inch  square,  from  the  stock  and  inserting  into 
the  place  a  patch  of  equal  size:  This  patch  is  cut  from 
a  twig  of  the  tree  of  the  desired  variety  and  should  contain 


FIG.  33.— Special  Knife  for  Cutting  Bark  Buds. 

a  good  dormant  bud  in  the  center.  The  work  has  to  be 
done  carefully  and  the  inserted  piece  must  fit  perfectly. 
The  work  can  best  be  done  in  the  spring  just  as  the  buds 
are  starting  to  swell,  or  delayed  until  fall  when  good  dor- 
mant buds  can  be  had.  If  done  in  the  spring  they  should 
be  forced  into  growth  the  same  year,  while  fall  work  should 
remain  dormant  until  the  following  spring. 


70          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

Where  very  much  bark  budding  is  done  a  special  knife 
(Fig.  33)  for  cutting  the  exact  size  of  the  patch  is  necessary. 
This  can  be  made  by  fastening  two  thin  steel  knife  blades  to  a 
block  of  wood  so  that  two  parallel  cuts  can  be  made  at  one 
time.  Such  a  tool  when  drawn  horizontally  across  the  bark 
and  then  vertically,  will  cut  a  square  patch  the  desired 


FIG.  34.— Tying  up  the  Bud. 

size.  If  the  blades  are  set  about  one  inch  apart,  the  patch 
will  be  one  inch  square  which  will  be  large  enough  for 
most  work.  The  same  knife  can  be  used  in  cutting  the  buds 
by_drawing  it  around  the  twig.  After  the  patch  contain- 
ing the  bud  is  removed  the  sides  can  be  trimmed  to  secure 
a  perfect  fit. 

In  performing  the  operation,  the  patch  is  first  removed 
from  the  stock  and  then  the  bud  cut  from  the  cion.     The 


BARK  BUDDING  71 

two  operations  should  be  done  as  close  together  as  pos- 
sible. Most  of  the  thick-barked  trees  contain  some  organic 
acid  in  their  bark  which  will  oxidize  on  exposure  to  the 
air.  Where  too  long  a  time  elapses  between  the  cutting 


FIG.  35. — A  Bud  which  Has  Set  and  the  Tie  Removed. 

of  the  patch  and  the  insertion  of  the  bud  the  exposure  to  the 
air  tends  to  inhibit  the  callusing  of  the  union.  It  is 
also  important  that  the  fingers  should  not  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  delicate  cambium.  A  little  oil  or  dirt  from 
the  fingers  will  prevent  the  buds  from  setting.  At  the 
very  best  the  process  is  slow  and  expensive  and  only  very 


72          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

careful  work  will  result  in  a  high  per  cent  of  successful 
ones. 

After  Treatment.  When  the  bud  is  in  place  it  should 
be  tied  firmly  with  raffia  or  waxed  cloth.  If  raffia  is  used 
it  should  be  waxed  over  to  exclude  the  air  and  prevent 
the  union  from  drying  out.  Many  workers  prefer  the 
waxed  cloth.  A  strip  of  cotton  cloth  is  dipped  in  hot 
grafting  wax  and,  after  drying,  is  cut  into  strips  about 
one  inch  wide.  These  strips  serve  the  double  purpose  of 
holding  the  bud  in  position  and  excluding  the  air.  The 
point  of  the  bud  from  which  the  growth  will  come  should 
not  be  covered  with  the  ties  although  no  harm  will  result 
from  a  light  coating  of  wax. 

After  three  to  five  weeks  the  patch  will  have  grown  fast 
to  the  stock;  Fig.  35.  The  subsequent  treatment  will  then 
depend  upon  the  time  the  work  was  done.  If  budded  in  the 
spring  part  of  the  top  above  the  bud  should  be  cut  back  in 
order  to  force  growth  the  same  year.  As  the  bud  develops, 
more  of  the  top  should  be  cut  back  until  by'the  time  the  new 
growth  is  five  or  six  inches  long  all  of  the  tree  or  branch 
above  the  bud  can  be  removed.  The  first  cutting  back 
should  not  be  done  until  the  bud  has  set.  If  the  work  is 
done  in  the  late  summer  no  cutting  back  should  be  done 
until  the  next  spring  when  the  treatment  should  be  the 
same  as  for  dormant  budding. 

Summer  Culture  of  Budded  Stock.  The  cultivation 
and  care  of  the  budded  stock  does  not  differ  in  any  essen- 
tial from,  that  of  the  seedlings.  They  should  be  cultivated 
regularly  and  ought  to  maintain  a  steady  growth  through- 
out the  summer.  Fertilizers  should  be  used  with  caution 


SUMMER  CULTURE  OF  BUDDED  STOCK  73 

... 


FIG.  36.— Large  Pecan  Tree  Top  Worked  by  Bark  Budding. 


74          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

as  too  much  nitrogen  will  force  too  heavy  a  growth,  and 
the  wood  will  not  mature  well  in  the  fall.  A  succulent 
over-sized  tree  is  never  as  good  for  orchard  planting  as  a 
stocky  medium-sized  one. 

Sprouting.  The  heading  back  of  the  seedlings  to 
force  the  bud  will  also  start  numerous  sprouts  on  the  stock. 
These  are  allowed  to  develop  with  the  bud  until  mid-sum- 
mer when  the  trees  are  gone  over  and  the  sprouts  removed. 
This  process  calls  for  considerable  experience  and  the  novice 
is  apt  to  pull  off  the  wrong  sprout.  In  most  cases,  the  dif- 
ferences in  the  foliage  of  the  good  bud  and  of  the  sprouts, 
will  be  marked  enough  so  that  it  will  be  easy  to  distinguish 
them.  In  some  cases,  where  almonds  are  budded  on 
bitter  almond  stock  or  peaches  on  peach  stock,  the  similar- 
ity is  so  great  that  the  only  sure  way  is  to  examine  the  place 
where  the  bud  was  inserted.  The  sprouter  has  to  crawl 
along  the  rows  on  his  hands  and  knees,  separate  the  unde- 
sirable sprouts  and  strip  them  off  by  hand.  Sometimes 
the  process  has  to  be  repeated,  but  usually  once  is  enough. 

Selecting  Buds.  Good  buds  are  vital  to  the  success 
of  the  nursery.  They  are  not  difficult  to  secure  but  should 
be  selected  with  considerable  care.  The  work  of  collect- 
ing buds  should  be  left  to  one  man  who  is  well  versed  in 
the  knowledge  of  buds  from  the  various  kinds  of  fruit. 
He  should  be  able  to  distinguish  a  leaf  bud  from  a  fruit 
bud.  He  ought  to  know  on  what  wood  the  fruit  or  flower 
buds  are  born,  whether  they  come  singly,  in  pairs  or  in 
threes;  whether  they  developed  on  the  current  year's 
wood  or  on  one  or  two  years'  old  growth. 

The  almond,  the  peach,  the  apricot  and  all  the  rest  of 


SELECTING  BUDS  75 

the  Prunus  group,  bear  their  fruit  on  one-year  old  wood. 
Therefore  the  buds  that  form  the  fruit,  and  the  first  set 
of  leaves  in  the  spring  develop  in  the  fall  of  the  preced- 
ing year.  The  buds  that  develop  into  leaves  are  separate 
from  those  that  bear  the  fruit.  It  is  probable,  then,  in 
cutting  twigs  for  budding  work  that  many  fruit  buds  will 
be  cut.  Of  course,  the  fruit  buds  are  no  good  for  nursery 
work  and  in  making  the  selection  they  should  be  dis- 
carded. It  is  not  always  easy  to  distinguish  fruit  buds 
from  leaf  buds,  but  with  little  observation  and  study, 
few  mistakes  need  be  made.  The  first  buds  that  appear 
in  the  axis  of  the  leaves  during  the  summer's  growth  are 
usually  leaf  buds,  but  along  in  July  and  August  fruit  buds 
begin  to  develop  down  near  the  base  of  the  current  year's 
growth  and,  as  the  season  advances,  appear  farther  and 
farther  out  on  the  terminal  branches.  They  may  appear 
singly,  in  pairs  or  in  sets  of  three.  Where  they  appear  in 
pairs  or  in  sets  of  three  one  of  them  is  nearly  always  a  fruit 
bud.  In  a  general  way,  the  fruit  buds  are  a  little  larger 
and  more  plump  than  the  leaf  buds,  the  latter  being  thin 
and  tapering  to  a  long  point. 

Bud  forms  on  the  apple  and  pear  are  quite  different 
from  those  of  the  stone  fruits.  The  fruit  is  always  born 
on  two-year  old  wood  hence  any  bud  formed  on  the  current 
year's  growth  would  necessarily  be  a  leaf  bud.  This  makes 
the  process  a  fairly  simple  one  with  the  Pome  fruits.  With 
the  evergreen  fruits  such  as  the  olive  and  the  citrus  fruits, 
bud  formation  is  quite  different.  In  climates  where  these 
fruits  can  be  grown  good,  dormant  buds  can  be  found 
at  nearly  all  periods  of  the  year.  With  the  various  nut 


76          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

fruits,  the  buds  containing  flowers  are  so  characteristic 
that  no  one  would  be  likely  to  make  a  mistake.  The  two 
sexes  in  the  fruit  buds  are  usually  separate.  The  pollen 
appearing  in  catkins  on  the  older  wood  while  the  pistilate 
flowers  develop  on  the  terminal  branches  of  the  current 
year's  growth.  These  peculiarties  of  the  flowers  would 
make  it  impossible  to  secure  anything  but  leaf  buds  for 
propagation  work. 

Collecting  Bud  Sticks.  In  selecting  buds  for  nursery 
work  the  following  points  should  be  carefully  kept  in  mind: 
First,  select  only  healthy  wood  from  trees  that  have  made 
a  good  vigorous  growth.  Second,  twigs  from  the  upper 
or  outer  portion  of  the  tree  usually  have  stronger  and  better 
developed  buds.  Third,  fruit  buds  are  undesirable  and 
should  be  avoided. 

In  collecting  bud  stick  it  is  customary,  where  possible, 
to  cut  only  as  fast  as  needed,  because  they  deteriorate 
rapidly  when  exposed.  The  collector  goes  to  the  tree 
equipped  with  a  wet  sack,  clips  off  the  twigs  with  a  long- 
handled  pruning  shears,  immediately  cuts  the  leaves  back 
to  within  one-half  inch  of  the  stem,  to  prevent  evapora- 
tion and  then  rolls  them  in  the  wet  sack.  As  soon  as 
enough  are  cut  for  the  day's  work,  or  as  many  as  are  desired, 
they  are  tied  in  a  bundle,  labeled,  rolled  up  again  and 
taken  away  for  immediate  use. 

Buds  from  Bearing  Trees.  Not  all  nurserymen  select 
their  buds  from  bearing  trees.  In  fact,  very  few  do  this 
as  a  regular  practice.  The  custom  among  the  better  com- 
panies is  to  use  buds  from  bearing  trees  every  third  year, 
cutting  from  the  previously  budded  nursery  stock  the  other 


SHIPPING  BUD  STICKS  77 

two.  If  buds  were  selected  continuously  from  bearing  trees 
large  orchards  would  need  to  be  maintained  for  this  pur- 
pose;  which  would  add  to  the  expense  of  the  work.  Also, 
the  per  cent  of  buds  that  grow  when  cut  from  bearing 
trees  is  very  much  lower  than  when  taken  from  young 
trees.  One  company  which  buds  an  average  of  one  million 
trees  a  year,  estimates  that  not  over  forty  per  cent  of  the 
buds  taken  from  bearing  trees  can  be  expected  to  grow, 
while  often  ninety-five  per  cent  of  those  taken  from  other 
nursery  trees  will  live  and  make  good  trees. 
.  The  only  argument  in  favor  of  using  buds  from  bearing 
trees  is  to  avoid  the  possible  mixing  of  varieties.  If  one 
or  two  bad  buds  should  get  into  the  nursery  and  these  be 
again  selected  the  next  year,  the  error  multiplies  in  a 
geometrical  ratio  and  in  a  very  few  seasons  the  stock 
would  be  in  a  badly  mixed  condition-.  So  the  practice 
of  returning  to  the  original  stock  once  in  three  years  is  a 
very  necessary  one. 

Shipping  Bud  Sticks.  Sometimes  it  may  become  neces- 
sary to  send  buds  for  some  distance  by  mail  or  express. 
This  can  readily  be  done  if  care  is  taken  in  preparing 
them.  They  should  be  cut  as  described  above,  but  in- 
stead of  wrapping  in  wet  cloth,  they  should  be  packed  in 
moss  and  then  wrapped  in  oiled  paper.  The  moss  is  kept 
wet  and  the  oiled  paper  prevents  them  from  drying  out. 
In  this  way  they  can  be  shipped  for  two  or  three  days7 
journey  without  harm.  If  a  longer  journey  is  necessary, 
it  is  best  to  slip  the  package,  moss,  paper  and  all,  into  a 
tin  tube  that  can  be  sealed  up.  If  this  precaution  is  taken 
they  can  be  carried  a  week  or  even  longer  without  spoiling. 


78          THE  DIFFERENT  BUDDING  OPERATIONS 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  are  the  general  differences  between  budding  and  graft- 

ing? 

2.  Under  what  conditions  are  each  best  adapted? 

3.  Which  fruits  are  generally  budded  and  which  grafted? 

4.  What  are  the  different  operations  necessary  in  budding? 

5.  Discuss  the  tools  required. 

6.  What  is  the  stripping  process,  how  done  and  why  necessary? 

7.  Name  the  different  kinds  of  budding. 

8.  Define  June  Budding  and  Dormant  Budding. 

9.  Explain  how  to  cut  and  insert  the  bud. 

10.  What  is  the  after  treatment  for  the  buds  that  "  take  "? 

11.  How  does  the  treatment  differ  for  June  budding  and  Dormant 

budding  ? 

12.  How  do  large  companies  handle  the  details  of  budding? 

13.  Discuss  twig  budding,  where  used,  adaptability,  etc. 

14.  Define  Bark  Budding  and  explain  its  use. 

15.  How  is  the  work  done? 

16.  Give  the  after  treatment. 

17.  Discuss  the  summer  culture  of  budded  stock. 

18.  What  is  sprouting  and  why  necessary? 

19.  Discuss  the  selecting  of  bud  sticks. 

20.  Give  the  method  of  collecting  bud  sticks  and  their  after  treat- 

ment. 

21.  What  is  the  practice  in  collecting  buds  by  nurserymen? 

22.  How  are  buds  handled  for  shipment? 


CHAPTER  V 
GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 

THE  work  of  grafting  is  normally  divided  into  two 
parts.  Those  grafts  which  are  used  by  nurserymen  in 
their  regular  work  of  propagation  and  those  used  mostly 
by  orchardmen  in  connection  with  their  practices  of  pro- 
duction. Of  the  many  types  of  grafts  in  common  prac- 
tice the  larger  number  are  adapted  to  the  use  of  the  or- 
chardist  rather  than  to  the  nurseryman.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  most  nurserymen  prefer  to  bud  wherever  possible 
as  the  cost  is  considerably  less. 

Grafting  Tools.  For  the  various  operations  of  graft- 
ing the  tools  necessary  are  a  good  strong  knife,  a  hand- 
pruning  shears,  a  saw,  a  waxing  pot  and  brush  and  some 
material  for  tying  up  the  union.  In  working  over  large 
trees  a  chisel,  a  mallet  and  a  two-handled  pruning  shears 
should  be  added  to  the  list.  The  best  knife  for  the  work 
would  be  one  with  a  thin  blade,  made 
of  good  steel  with  the  sides  of  the  blade 
straight  as  it  is  impossible  to  make  a 
straight  cut  with  a  blade  having  either 
concave  or  convex  sides.  This  fact  can 
be  better  illustrated  from  the  following 
diagrams: 

79 


80 


GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


Saws.     It   is   always   best   to   have   sharp   tools    with 
which  to  remove  the  branches  that  are  too  large  to  be  cut 


FIG.  37. — Grafting  Tools,     a  and  b,  saws;    c,  chisel  and  mallet;    d, 
waxing  pot;  e}  two  handled  shears;  /,  hand  shears;  g,  raffia. 

off  with  a  knife.     The  use  of  shears  should  be  avoided; 
instead,   cut  off  with  a  fine-toothed   saw.     This  is  espe- 


CHISEL  AND  MALLET  81 

cially  necessary  on  stocks  too  large  to  be  whip-grafted. 
The  bow-saw,  A,  Fig.  37,  is  in  common  use  in  the  western 
states.  In  this  type  of  saw  the  handle  fits  close  in  the 
hand  and  can  be  adjusted  to  a  variety  of  conditions.  Both 
ends  of  the  blade  are  fastened  by  means  of  a  swivel  bolt 
which  can  be  adjusted  to  any  angle.  One  end  is  fastened 
with  a  thumb-screw  nut  which  makes  it  easy  to  tighten  or 
replace  when  broken.  A  number  of  saws  of  this  type  are 
now  being  manufactured  and  can  be  purchased  at  almost 
any  nursery  supply  house. 

Such  saws  have  a  thin  blade,  make  a  very  fine  cut  and 
the  teeth  being  set  wide  will  cut  through  a  limb  with  sur- 
prising ease.  They  can  be  used  with  success  on  branches 
up  to  three  or  four  inches  in  diameter.  The  blade  is 
made  reversible  so  that  the  cut  can  be  made  by  drawing 
the  saw  instead  of  shoving;  in  this  way  it  is  not  so  easily 
broken.  For  cutting  large  branches  a  good  stiff-bladed 
pruning  saw  is  desirable. 

Chisel  and  Mallet.  For  grafting  large  stock  some 
kind  of  a  splitter  is  required.  Such  a  tool  can  be  made  by 
a  blacksmith  from  an  old  file.  The  blade  should  be  about 
six  inches  long  and  very  thin  to  prevent  splitting  the 
stock  too  far.  On  the  end  of  the  blade  is  a  small  wedge, 
which  is  used  in  holding  the  cleft  open  while  the  cion  is 
being  set  in  place.  These  wedges  should  be  about  one- 
half  inch  wide,  three-quarters  of  an  inch  long  and  thin  at 
the  heel  in  order  to  work  satisfactorily.  The  mallet  can 
be  made  from  a  hard  piece  of  wood,  or  an  ordinary  car- 
penter's mallet  may  be  used.  These  ought  not  to  weigh 
over  one  pound. 


82  GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 

Pruning  Shears.  These  do  not  differ  in  any  way  from 
those  used  in  pruning  work.  If  the  shears  have  good  steel 
and  thin  blades  tapering  to  a  sharp  point  better  results 
can  be  had.  The  shears  are  not  recommended  for  making 
cuts  that  a  saw  can  be  used  for,  but  often  grafts  are  made 
where  they  can  be  used  to  a  better  advantage.  The  objec- 
tion to  shears  is,  that  they  crush  the  bark  on  one  side  of 
the  stock  while  the  cut  is  being  made. 

Grafting  Wax.  On  all  grafts  that  are  exposed  to  the 
air  some  covering  is  necessary  to  seal  up  the  union  and 
prevent  evaporation  of  moisture.  For  this  purpose  a 
special  grafting  wax  is  used.  This  is  made  in  three  dif- 
ferent types,  known  as  "  hard  wax/'  "  soft  wax "  and 
"  liquid  wax."  The  usual  ingredients  in  all  of  these  are 
beeswax,  resin  and  tallow.  Various  other  substances  are 
occasionally  used,  such  as  oil,  turpentine  and  alcohol. 
The  hard  wax  is  made  by  melting  together  the  three  in- 
gredients, resin,  beeswax  and  tallow  and  then  cooling  in  a 
mold.  The  important  thing  to  remember  is  the  quantity 
of  resin  to  use.  If  there  is  too  much,  the  wax  will  be  too 
hard  and  crack  in  cool  weather,  allowing  the  air  to  enter. 
If  too  little  is  used,  the  wax  will  melt  and  run  during  the 
heat  of  the  day.  It  is  easy,  therefore,  to  see  that  each  sec- 
tion of  the  country  may  require  a  slightly  different  formula. 

The  soft  wax  is  made  in  the  same  way,  except  it  is  cooled 
in  cold  water  and  pulled  to  soften  it  and  make  it  easy  to 
apply.  This  wax  is  used  cold  and  applied  to  the  graft  with 
the  fingers.  Oil  is  used  on  the  hands  to  prevent  the  wax 
from  sticking.  The  liquid  wax  is  a  combination  of  the  above 
with  the  addition  of  some  volatile  liquid,  usually  alcohol. 


USE  OF  OIL  IN  WAX  83 

In  this  case  the  wax  must  be  kept  sealed  to  prevent 
evaporation.  When  applied  to  the  graft  the  alcohol  evap- 
orates and  the  wax  hardens. 

Use  of  Oil  in  Wax.  All  grafting  waxes  should  be  made 
with  as  little  oil  as  possible.  All  light  oils  are  very  pene- 
trating, and  when  used  in  waxes  are  liable  to  work  through 
the  bark  and  injure  the  cambium  layer.  There  is  some 
objection  to  using  oil  on  the  hands  when  applying  the  soft 
wax,  as  in  handling  the  cions  some  of  the  oil  may  be  left 
on  the  tender  bark.  In  such  cases  it  is  well  to  handle  the 
wax  with  gloves,  using  the  bare  hands  for  setting  the  cions. 

Waxing  Pot.  Where  the  hard  wax  is  used  some  pro- 
vision must  be  made  to  keep  it  warm  while  being  applied. 
A  special  waxing  pot  as  shown  in  D,  Fig.  37,  is  used  success- 
fully in  many  places.  An  old  coffee  pot  with  a  hole  cut 
in  the  side  for  a  lamp,  and  a  double  boiler  in  the  top  works 
admirably.  An  alcohol  or  kerosene  burner  keeps  the  water 
hot,  which  in  turn  keeps  the  wax  just  soft  enough  to  use 
and  not  hot  enough  to  injure  the  bark  of  the  stock  or  cion. 
For  applying  the  wax  a  brush  may  be  made  from  a  piece  of 
branch  and  a  few  fibers  cut  from  a  manila  rope.  This 
brush  can  be  renewed  every  few  hours  and  works  even 
better  than  a  hair  brush. 

Wax  Formulae.  There  are  various  formulae  used  in 
making  hard  wax,  but  the  following  works  satisfactorily: 

Resin 2  pounds 

Beeswax 1      " 

Tallow  (mutton  or  beef) \     " 

Turpentine 2  ounces 


84  GEAFTING  OPERATIONS 

Melt  the  resin  and  tallow  over  a  gentle  fire,  then  add  the 
beeswax  and  when  well  dissolved  remove  from  the  fire 
and  add  the  turpentine;  keep  stirring  until  the  turpen- 
tine is  well  incorporated,  then  pour  into  molds  and  set 
aside  until  wanted  for  use. 

For  the  soft  wax  the  same  formula  as  the  above  is  used 
except  the  turpentine  is  omitted.  In  making  soft  wax, 
melt  together  as  in  the  hard  wax.  When  thoroughly  mixed 
pour  it  into  a  tub  of  cold  water  and  as  soon  as  it  hardens 
remove  and  work  with  the  hands  until  soft.  It  will  be 
necessary  to  use  oil  on  the  hands  to  prevent  the  wax  from 
sticking.  If  the  wax  gets  too  soft  in  working  do  not  use 
more  oil  but  plunge  the  mixture  back  into  the  water  until 
it  is  again  of  the  right  texture.  Twenty  minutes  or  a  half 
hour  of  pulling  the  wax  ought  to  get  it  into  a  soft  pliable 
mixture  which  can  be  applied  to  the  grafts  with  the 
fingers. 

For  the  liquid  wax  the  following  formula  may  be  used: 

Resin 1  pound 

Beeswax i 

Tallow  (mutton) \       " 

Alcohol 10  ounces 

Melt  the  resin  and  beeswax  over  a  gentle  fire,  stirring 
in  the  tallow.  Take  from  the  fire  and  when  partially  cooled 
mix  in  the  alcohol.  If  this  cools  it  too  rapidly,  it  must 
again  be  placed  over  the  fire,  great  care  being  taken  to  keep 
the  alcohol  from  burning.  When  well  incorporated  and 
cool,  put  into  tin  cases  or  glass  bottles.  It  should  be  kept 
well  covered  or  corked  to  prevent  drying  out.  In  using, 


THEORY  OF  GRAFTING  85 

apply  with  a  stiff  bristle  brush.  On  exposure  to  the  air 
the  alcohol  evaporates  and  the  wax  hardens. 

Theory  of  Grafting.  The  fundamental  principle  on 
which  the  practice  of  grafting  is  based  is  purely  a  question 
of  plant  physiology.  Plants  have  a  more  or  less  definitely 
organized  circulatory  system.  The  food  is  taken  in  through 
the  roots  and  passes  upward  through  the  outer  or  sap 
wood.  It  is  then  carried  into  the  leaves  where  it  is  converted 
into  the  more  highly  organized  compounds  and  made  avail- 
able for  plant  growth.  Part  of  this  material  passes  down 
the  trunk  of  the  tree  on  the  line  between  the  bark  and  the 
wood.  This  constitutes  the  return  flow  of  sap  and  is  known 
as  the  cambium  layer.  This  layer  forms  the  wood  cells 
on  the  inside,  and  the  bark  cells  on  the  outside,  and  the  point 
from  which  a  union  must  be  made  when  a  cion  is  inserted. 

When  a  union  is  made  between  two  different  varieties 
of  fruit  this  does  not  change  the  function  of  the  cells  of 
either  stock  or  cion.  Each  cell  performs  its  usual  duties 
up  to  the  point  where  the  sap  is  passed  on  to  the  other 
wood.  The  work  is  then  completed  by  the  cells  of  the  cion. 
If  the  cells  of  the  stock  are  not  able  to  supply  the  sap  as 
fast  as  the  cion  can  use  it,  the  resulting  tree  will  be  dwarfed. 
This  fact  is  made  use  of  in  nursery  practice  by  grafting 
pear  on  quince  stock  to  reduce  the  stature  of  the  tree. 
If  the  cells  of  the  cion  are  radically  different  from  those 
of  the  stock,  they  will  not  be  able  to  utilize  the  sap  and  no 
union  will  result.  The  limits  of  grafting  then,  depend  more 
upon  the  closeness  of  the  relationship  of  the  stock  and  cion 
than  upon  any  other  one  thing. 

Any  one  who  is  doing  grafting  work  will  have  several 


86  GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 

points  to  keep  in  mind.  First,  the  relationship  between 
the  stock  and  cion  must  be  one  that  will  permit  of  a  union 
from  a  physiological  standpoint.  Second,  the  cambium 
layer  of  the  stock  must  coincide  with  the  cambium  layer 
of  the  cion  in  order  that  the  sap  may  be  passed  from  one 
to  the  other.  Third,  every  precaution  must  be  taken  to 
seal  up  the  union  to  prevent  the  loss  of  moisture  and  the 
consequent  drying  out.  If,  in  addition  to  the  above, 
the  mechanical  part  of  the  operation  be  executed  with  care 
and  cleanliness,  good  results  may  always  be  looked  for. 

Kinds  of  Grafts.  The  names  applied  to  the  various 
kinds  of  grafts  are  usually  associated  with  some  phase  of  the 
mechanics  of  the  operation.  They  differ  mainly  in  the 
details  of  the  operation  and  have  been  the  outgrowth  of 
efforts  to  adapt  the  work  to  special  situations  or  conditions. 
Often  several  different  kinds  may  be  used  successfully 
for  the  same  work.  Those  most  used  in  the  United  States 
may  be  enumerated  as  follows: 

1.  Whip  grafts.  5.  Veneer  grafts. 

2.  Side-whip  grafts.  6.  Side  grafts. 

3.  Cleft  grafts.  7.  Bridge  grafts. 

4.  Bark  grafts.  8.  Inarching. 

Whip  Grafting.  This  is  the  graft  most  used  by  nur- 
serymen in  their  propagational  work.  It  is  used  largely 
on  apples  and  pears  though  it  may  be  used  on  other  fruits 
as  well.  The  apple  seedlings  previously  referred  to  are 
grown  primarily  for  this  kind  of  work.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  simple  of  the  many  diverse  kinds  of  grafts  and  may 
be  worked  either  in  the  field  or  indoors.  In  the  latter 


WHIP  GRAFTING 


87 


case  it  is  usually  spoken  of  as  "  Bench  Working,"  from  the 
fact  that  the  operation  is  performed  on  a  bench.  This 
method  works  best  on  small  stock  ranging  from  three-six- 
teenths inch  to  five-sixteenths  inch  in  diameter.  Seedlings 


FIG.  38.— Bench  Working  and  Whip  Grafting. 

older  than  one  or  two  years  are  best  grafted  by  other 
methods. 

For  bench  working,  the  seedlings  are  dug  up  in  the  fall, 
separated  into  grades  and  stored  for  the  winter.  Enough 
for  only  one  day's  work  is  removed  at  a  time.  These  are 
taken  indoors,  washed  free  from  all  dirt  and  they  are  then 
ready  for  grafting.  The  operation  can  best  be  understood 
by  referring  to  Fig.  39.  A  smooth  place  is  selected  on  the 
root  just  at  the  ground  line.  The  seedling  is  held  in  the 


88 


GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


left  hand  with  the  thumb  extending  toward  the  top.  The 
knife  is  then  drawn  upward  making  a  smooth,  even,  slop- 
ing cut  d.  This  should  be  perfectly  straight  with  the  cut 


FIG.  39. — Whip  Graft.     A,  Cion;  B,  Stock;  C,  Union. 

surface  about  one  inch  and  a  quarter  long.  Then  revers- 
ing the  knife,  about  one  quarter  of  an  inch  above  the  center 
of  this  cut,  a  slit  or  tongue  e  is  made  downward.  This 
tongue  should  not  be  made  straight  with  the  grain  but 
cut  slightly  across,  partially  parallel  with  the  face  d.  The 


CALLUSING  89 

cion  is  then  prepared  in  the  same  manner  as  the  stock. 
This  may  be  from  four  to  six  inches  long  and  should 
contain  at  least  two  good  buds.  The  cion  is  cut  off  about 
one-quarter  inch  above  the  last  bud  and  should  slope 
slightly  away  from  it. 

The  two  are  then  joined  together,  care  being  taken  that 
the  bark  of  the  cion  and  that  of  the  stock  be  placed  in  close 
contact  on  one  side.  It  will  seldom  be  possible  to  unite 
the  cambium  layers  on  both  sides  because  of  the  variation 
in  the  diameters  of  the  two  pieces.  If  one  side  fits  per- 
fectly the  resulting  union  will  be  just  as  satisfactory.  If 
the  sloping  cuts  are  not  perfectly  straight  or  if  the  tongue 
is  not  started  above  the  center  of  the  cut,  a  close,  tight 
fit  can  not  be  had.  The  grafts  are  then  wrapped  with  a  soft 
cotton  string  which  has  been  dipped  in  melted  grafting 
wax.  The  wrapping  should  hold  the  union  snugly  in  place 
but  should  not  cover  all  the  surface.  One-eighth  of  an  inch 
should  be  left  between  each  wrap  so  the  callus  will  have  a 
better  chance  to  form.  Raffia  should  not  be  used  on  whip 
grafts  as  it  does  not  decay  readily  and  may  cut  into  the 
tree  by  the  expanding  growth.  Where  many  seedlings 
are  grafted  a  machine  for  doing  the  wrapping  can  be  had. 
Figs.  40  and  41. 

Callusing.  As  fast  as  the  grafts  are  completed,  they 
are  tied  in  bundles  of  fifty  or  one  hundred  each,  properly 
labelled  and  stored  away  in  the  callusing  bed  where  they 
remain  until  planting  time  in  the  spring.  The  labels  must 
be  of  some  material  that  water  or  soil  will  not  affect,  as  much 
mixing  of  varieties  in  the  nursery  is  due  to  carelessness  in 
labelling.  The  callusing  bed  should  be  placed  where  the 


90 


GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


FIG,  40. — Machine  for  Wrapping  Whip  Grafts. 


CALLUSING 


91 


moisture  can  be  controlled  and  the  temperature  will  not 
fluctuate  too  much.  The  floor  of  a  cellar  or  storage  house 
would  answer. 

For  a  small  quantity,  a  box  of  suitable  size  would  answer. 
The  bottom  is  covered  with  a  layer  of  sand  three  or  four 
inches  thick  on  which  is  placed  a  layer  of  grafts.  These 


FIG.  41. — Machine  in  Operation. 

are  covered  with  a  layer  of  sand,  then  another  layer  of  grafts 
and  so  on.  The  bundles  of  grafts  may  be  stood  on  end  if 
desired,  although  the  entire  bundle  should  be  covered  with 
sand.  These  must  be  examined  from  time  to  time  during 
the  winter  to  see  that  they  are  kept  moist  and  that  the  tem- 
perature remains  uniform.  If  the  temperature  runs  too 
high  the  buds  will  start  and  no  callus  form;  if  too  low 


92  GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 

the  cambium  will  remain  inactive  until  spring.  Between 
40  and  50  degrees  Fahrenheit  will  give  the  best  results, 
but  no  great  harm  will  result  by  a  drop  to  32  degrees.  In 
the  spring  as  the  temperature  rises  the  grafts  must  be 
watched  and  as  soon  as  the  buds  begin  to  grow  they  are 
transferred  to  the  nursery.  During  the  winter  small 
white  calluses  will  form  along  the  line  of  the  union.  Where 
these  are  not  found  or  where  the  union  has  turned  black, 
the  cion  will  not  grow  and  these  should  be  rejected  when 
moved  to  the  nursery.  The  rejected  ones  may  be  planted 
by  themselves.  After  growing  for  another  year  they  may 
again  be  grafted  in  the  same  way. 

Piece  Root  or  Whole  Root  Grafts.  Much  discussion, 
in  recent  years,  has  taken  place  as  to  whether,  in  making 
whip  grafts,  the  entire  root  of  the  seedling  should  be  used 
or  if  a  piece  of  the  root  would  answer.  Most  nursery 
companies  offer  both,  with  a  higher  average  price  for  the 
whole  root  grafts.  The  use  of  whole  roots  makes  it  neces- 
sary to  use  one  or  two-year  old  seedlings  while  the  piece 
roots  may  be  cut  from  older  trees.  The  latter  are  much 
cheaper  and  are  often  the  only  ones  available.  Their 
desirability  for  nursery  work  depends,  not  on  the  place 
where  the  root  was  cut,  but  on  the  amount  of  root  growth 
on  the  mature  nursery  tree.  The  consensus  of  opinion 
among  investigators  is  that  root  development  is  somewhat 
slower  on  the  older  piece  roots,  but  where  the  roots  are 
healthy  and  vigorous  the  resulting  tree  will  be  just  as  good 
as  when  the  whole  root  is  used. 

Some  nursery  companies,  make  and  offer  for  sale  cal- 
lused  whip  grafts.  This  offers  an  opportunity  for  or- 


SIDE  WHIP  GRAFTING 


93 


chardists  to  buy  their  stock  already  grafted  and  only  re- 
quires two  years  in  the  developing  of  nursery  trees  ready 
for  the  orchard.  For  this  work  the  whole  root  grafts  are 
made  in  two  grades,  depending  on  whether  the  No.  1  or 
No.  2  seedlings  are  used.  In  both  of  these  the  root  would 


1  2  3 

FIG.  42.— Whip  Root  Grafts.     1.  Whole  Root  Branched. 
Root.     3.  Whole  Root  Straight. 


2.  Piece 


be  cut  back  to  eight  inches  and  the  cion  to  five,  making 
a  thirteen-inch  graft.  For  piece  root  grafts,  it  is  custom- 
ary to  use  a  four-inch  root  with  a  six-inch  cion  which  has 
been  found  to  give  the  best  results.  Prices  for  whip  grafts 
range  from  $3.50  a  thousand  for  the  piece  root  to  $6.00 
for  whole  root  work. 

Side  Whip  Grafting.    This  is  the  only  other  graft  of 


94 


GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


importance  used  in  regular  nursery  practice  and  is  a  modi- 
fication of  the  whip  graft.  Its  chief  value  over  the  other 
one  is,  that  it  is  adapted  to  a  larger  stock,  may  be  used  to 
better  advantage  out  of  doors,  and  accommodates  a  larger 


Cion  Inserted  Cion  Tied 

FIG.  43.— Side  Whip  Graft. 

and  more  brittle  cion.  For  these  reasons  it  is  used  mostly 
in  the  south  and  the  west  for  the  thick-barked  fruits, 
like  the  walnut  or  pecan,  although  it  may  be  used  success- 
fully on  any  fruit  tree. 

In  most  cases  the  union  is  made  close  to  the  ground. 


TOP  WORKING  OLD  TREES  95 

The  soil  is  scraped  away  from  the  base  of  the  seedling  and 
the  top  is  removed  with  a  two-handled  pruning  shears. 
This  cut  may  be  square  across  or  on  a  slight  slant ;  the  latter 
is  usually  preferred.  The  operator  kneels  on  the  ground 
and  with  his  knife  makes  a  cut  on  the  side  of  the  stock 
as  illustrated  in  Fig.  43.  This  cut  should  be  about  one  and 
one-half  inches  long,  rounding  in  sharply  at  the  bottom  and 
coming  out  nearly  straight  with  the  grain  at  the  top.  The 
cion  is  cut  in  the  same  way  as  for  the  whip  graft  and  inserted 
in  the  same  manner.  The  tongue  on  the  stock  should 
start  somewhat  below  the  top  and  run  down  straight  with 
the  grain  of  the  wood.  The  bottom  of  the  cion  should 
come  down  as  far  as  the  cut  on  the  stock,  and  make  a 
close,  smooth  connection.  The  union  is  than  tied  up  with 
raffia  or  waxed  cloth  and  this  is  covered  with  wax.  The 
soil  is  then  pulled  back  around  the  base  of  the  tree  so  as  to 
cover  the  union  leaving  only  the  top  of  the  cion  exposed. 
The  process  is  the  same  when  used  on  the  branches  above 
ground  but  more  attention  should  be  given  to  the  waxing. 
Top  Working  Old  Trees.  Many  trees  for  one  reason 
or  another  bear  undesirable  fruit  and  are  worked  over  to 
other  varieties.  It  may  be  a  seedling  which  has  never 
been  grafted  or  some  standard  variety  unsuited  to  a  par- 
ticular market  or  locality.  The  trees  may  be  only  a  few 
years  old  or  of  many  decades,  but  so  long  as  they  are  healthy 
they  may  be  grafted.  There  are  other  reasons  for  top-work- 
ing trees,  such  as  vigor,  resistance  to  cold  or  insect  troubles, 
adaptability  to  soils,  length  of  life,  etc.,  all  of  which  will 
be  discussed  later.  An  up-to-date  orchardist  will  not 
have  any  drones  among  his  trees.  They  will  all  be  grafted 


96 


GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


over  to  good  varieties  and  made  to  do  their  part.  Some- 
times whole  orchards  are  grafted  over  to  other  varieties. 
(Fig.  44.) 

Cleft  Grafting.     In  top-working  trees  the   oldest  and 
probably  most  used  graft  is  the  cleft.     This  works  success 
fully  on  branches  from  one-half  inch  in  diameter  up  to  two  or 
three  inches  and  may  be  used  on  those  as  large  as  six  inches. 


••--.V".%y-7^  '-;  •  •-•    •     s»    *   ."-  •      ">        ~.     '•-.*' 

"^-'  *£?:}~.i-\~:'  ifiTi ;'  v 


FIG.  44. — Working  over  an  Almond  Orchard  to  Prunes  in  California. 


Cions  may  be  placed  down  close  to  the  ground  or  up  in 
the  tops  of  old  trees.  The  work  should  be  done  in  the  spring 
before  growth  normally  starts  and  while  both  stock  and 
cion  are  still  dormant.  Summer  grafting  may  be  done, 
but  the  practice  is  not  general. 

In  performing  the  operation,  the  stock  is  cut  squarely 
across  with  a  fine  saw  and  a  cleft  made  down  about  one 
and  one-half  inches.  The  cion  should  contain  at  least 


CLEFT  GRATING 


97 


two  good  buds  and  be  three  or  four  inches  long.  The  lower 
end  is  cut  to  a  wedge  shape,  making  the  slope  the  same 
length  as  the  depth  of  the  cleft  in  the  stock.  The  cleft 


Stock 


Cion  Cion  Inserted 

FIG.  45.— Cleft  Grafting. 


Wax  Applied 


is  then  pried  open  with  the  splitter,  previously  mentioned, 
and  the  cion  inserted,  being  careful  to  have  the  cambium 
layers  of  the  two  pieces  closely  united.  If  the  inner  edge 
of  the  cion  is  made  slightly  thinner  than  the  outer  the 


98  GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


FIG.  46— Young  Tree  Cleft  Grafted. 


FIG.  47.— Same  Tree  as  Fig.  46  after  Two  Years'  Growth. 


CLEFT  GRAFTING  99 

union  will  fit  better.  If  the  stock  is  one  inch  or  more  in 
diameter  two  cions  are  inserted.  If  both  grow,  one  can 
be  removed  at  the  close  of  the  first  year.  It  will  also  be 
necessary  to  guard  against  the  crushing  of  the  tender  cion 
from  the  spring  of  the  wood  in  making  the  cleft.  To  avoid 
this,  two  methods  are  available.  One  is  to  put  a  small  wedge 
in  the  center  of  the  cleft  to  ease  the  pressure  off  the  cion. 
The  other  is  to  make  the  cleft  across  the  edge  of  the  stock 
rather  than  through  the  center.  The  latter  method  is 
preferable  as  it  is  easier  to  make  and  permits  of  healing 
somewhat  quicker  than  where  split  through  the  center. 
Besides,  the  position  of  the  cleft  can  always  be  regulated 
so  as  to  get  just  enough  pressure  to  hold  the  cion  in  posi- 
tion and  make  tying  unnecessary. 

After  the  cion  is  in  position  the  union  should  be  waxed 
over.  If  the  stock  is  a  very  small  one  it  will  be  necessary 
to  tie  the  graft,  but  on  the  larger  limbs  the  natural  spring 
of  the  wood  will  hold  the  cion  as  tight  as  necessary.  The 
wax  should  be  applied  to  all  the  exposed  places,  covering 
the  entire  end  of  the  stock  and  down  the  side  as  far  as  the 
cleft  goes.  Sometimes  a  drop  of  wax  is  placed  on  the  end 
of  the  cion.  If  the  waxing  is  done  some  time  before  growth 
starts  in  the  spring,  it  may  be  necessary  to  go  over  the 
grafts  a  second  time  to  be  sure  that  all  of  the  unions  are 
properly  sealed  up.  Not  all  the  cions  will  grow  and  many 
that  do  grow  will  not  start  until  some  time  after  the  normal 
growth. 

The  grafts  will  have  to  be  watched  through  the  summer 
and  as  the  growth  develops  some  pruning  will  be  necessary. 
Sprouts  will  often  develop  around  the  graft  and  these  will 


100 


GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


have  to  be  kept  off  so  they  will  not  interfere  with  the  cion. 
If  it  is  a  case  of  top-working  an  old  tree,  some  of  the  other 
branches  may  grow  in  the  way  and  prevent  proper  branch- 
ing of  the  cion.  All  these  should  be  watched  and  every- 
thing cut  away  that  would  interfere  with  the  correct  de- 
velopment of  a  new  top.  An  old  tree  may  be  top-worked 
completely  in  one  year  or  two  or  more  seasons  may  be  used. 


"Fro.  48. — A  Top-worked  Tree  Leaving  "  Nurse  "  Branches. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  leave  a  few  branches  as 
branches  for  one  year  while  the  rest  are  being  worked 
over.  This  practice  is  common  in  some  sections  of  the 
country  and  as  far  as  is  known  gives  good  results. 

Veneer  Grafting.     This  is  variously  known    as    "  V ' 
grafting  or  notch  grafting.     Its  use  is  chiefly  as  a  substi- 
tute for  cleft  grafting  as  it  is  not  n'ecessary  to  split  the  stock. 
A  V-shaped  cut  is  made  in  the  side  of  the  stock  where  the 


VENEER 


.401 


cleft  would  ordinarily  be  made.  This  is  cut  through  the 
bark  and  into  the  wood,  its  size  and  depth  being  regulated 
by  the  size  of  the  cion  to  be  used.  The  cion  is  cut  in  the 
same  way  as  for  the  cleft,  only  the  lower  end  is  cut 


Stock  Cion  Graft  Completed 

FIG.  49. — Veneer  or  V  Grafting. 

V-shaped  instead  of  a  wedge.  In  large  stocks,  the  cut  may 
be  made  with  a  saw  and  the  edges  trimmed  out  to  the 
V  shape  with  a  knife. 

The  V  cut  of  the  cion  fits  into  the  notch  of  the  stock 
and  the  cambium  layers  are  joined  as  in  the  cleft.     (Fig. 


102 


OPEEATIONS 


49.)  It  is  then  tied  up  with  raffia  and  all  the  exposed 
area  waxed  over.  This  method  works  well  on  hard  wood 
and  where  the  cions  are  large  and  inclined  to  be  brittle. 
It  is  also  better  adapted  to  larger  branches  than  the  cleft 
is.  Its  only  objection  is  that  the  cions  sometimes  blow 
out  before  they  get  firmly  established.  This,  however, 
can  be  prevented  by  judicious  pruning  of  the  cion  or  by 


FIG.  50.— A  Side  Graft. 

nailing  a  lath  to  the  side  of  the  stock  and  tying  the  cion 
to  this  as  the  growth  develops.  It  is  used  largely  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  where  it  is  looked  on  with  favor  as  a  good 
substitute  for  the  cleft  graft. 

Side  Grafting.  This  method  is  used  to  a  limited  extent 
to  place  an  extra  branch  on  a  young  tree  or  fill  in  where 
one  may  be  missing.  It  may  be  used  on  shrubs  as  well 
as  fruit  trees.  It  works  best  on  stock  from  one-half  up 


BARK  GRAFTING  103 

to  two  inches  in  size.  The  top  of  the  branch  is  not  cut 
off,  but  is  bent  over  and  a  downward  sloping  cut  made  into 
the  side  where  the  new  limb  is  to  be  placed.  The  cion  is 
then  cut  with  a  long  sloping  face  as  shown  in  Fig.  50.  This 
is  fitted  into  the  stock  by  bending  it  over,  care  being  taken 
to  get  the  cambium  layers  to  fit  closely  along  one  side. 
The  union  is  then  tied  up  and  carefully  waxed  over.  It 
is  also  possible  to  renew  the  top  of  a  tree  by  this  method. 
The  graft  is  placed  on  the  smaller  branches  and  as  soon 
as  growth  starts  the  part  a*bove  is  cut  off  close  to  the 
union. 

Bark  Grafting.  This  is  a  method  of  top-working  trees 
which  may  be  used  after  growth  has  started  in  the  spring. 
All  the  other  grafting  operations  should  be  done  while  the 
trees  are  still  dormant.  If  this  is  impossible  the  method 
of  bark  grafting  may  be  used.  In  this  process  the  important 
thing  is  to  keep  the  cions  from  starting.  They  may  be 
collected  in  the  usual  way  and  placed  in  cold  storage,  or 
if  this  is  not  available,  bury  them  in  the  sawdust  on  top  of 
the  ice  in  an  icehouse.  By  these  methods  the  cions  may  be 
kept  dormant  from  four  to  six  weeks  beyond  the  normal 
growing  season. 

To  bark  graft,  the  stock  is  cut  in  the  same  manner  as 
for  cleft  work.  The  bark  is  then  cut  down  for  an  inch 
and  a  half  and  the  corners  carefully  loosened  from  the 
wood.  The  cion  is  cut  with  a  long  slope  on  one  side  only 
(see  Fig.  51).  This  is  then  inserted  in  the  stock  between 
the  loosened  bark  and  the  wood,  placing  the  cut  surface  of 
the  cion  next  to  the  wood.  It  is  tied  up  with  raffia  and 
waxed  over  as  for  the  other  grafts.  The  two  unite  quickly 


104 


GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


and  growth  is  apparently  as  strong  and  as  good  as  any 
of  the  other  methods. 

Inarching.  Grafting  by  Approach.  A  method  adaptable 
to  many  ornamental  plants  but  may  also  be  used  in  orchard 
work.  Two  plants  or  two  parts  of  the  same  plant  are 


FIG.  51.— Bark  Graft. 

brought  together  and  a  union  made  by  cutting  through  the 
bark  at  the  desired  point  of  contact.  Various  fancy  forms 
such  as  cordons,  arches,  trees  for  growing  against  walls, 
etc.,  are  formed  by  this  method.  Natural  braces  for  fruit 
trees  may  also  be  made.  (See  Fig.  52.)  Two  small  twigs 
extending  from  different  branches  are  brought  together 


BRIDGE  GRAFTING 


105 


and  the  ends  untied.  These  enlarge  as  they  grow,  getting 
strong  enough  in  time  to  support  the  limbs  and  do  away 
with  props. 


FIG.  52. — Inarching. 

Bridge  Grafting.  Often  trees  may  be  injured  by  acci- 
dents, such  as  fire,  carelessness  in  cultivating  or  plowing, 
or  by  mice  and  rabbits  during  the  winter.  Such  injuries 
weaken  the  tree  by  cutting  off  part  of  the  food  supply 


106  GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 

and  if  they  extend  all  around  the  trunk,  the  tree  is  com- 
pletely girdled  and  will  die.  If  such  injuries  are  dis- 
covered before  growth  starts  in  the  spring,  the  tree  can 
usually  be  saved  by  bridge  grafting.  In  case  the  trouble 
is  the  result  of  summer  injury  the  remedy  is  not  so  easy 
but  may  be  used  successfully.  Where  the  bark  has  been 
off  for  two  or  three  years  but  resulting  in  comparatively 
small  wounds  the  same  remedy  may  be  used.  If  decay 
has  started  in  the  wood,  this  may  be  checked,  but  new 
wood  cannot  be  grown. 

If  the  injury  results  in  a  complete  girdle,  the  first  thing 
to  do  is  to  trim  off  the  edges  of  the  old  bark  down  to 
fresh  cambium,  both  above  and  below  the  wound.  The 
cions  may  be  cut  from  the  same  or  similar  trees  and  should 
be  of  the  current  year's  growth.  The  distance  is  carefully 
measured  across  the  injury  and  the  cions  cut  a  sufficient 
length  to  reach  across  and  extend  one  and  one-quarter  inches 
under  the  fresh  bark  both  above  and  below  the  wound. 
Both  ends  of  the  cions  are  cut  to  a  face  similar  to  the  one 
used  in  the  bark  graft.  These  are  then  inserted  under  the 
bark  at  both  sides  of  the  injury  placing  the  cut  face  next 
to  the  wood  of  the  tree.  If  a  cion  can  be  placed  every 
inch  around  the  girdle  results  will  be  much  more  satis- 
factory. They  are  then  tied  up  and  waxed  over,  being 
sure  to  cover  all  exposed  areas. 

If  the  injury  occurs  close  to  the  ground  the  soil  may 
be  pulled  up  around  the  cions  after  they  have  been  set 
and  waxed.  Old  wounds  running  only  part  way  around 
the  trunk  may  be  healed  in  the  same  manner.  If  the 
injury  is  small,  the  bark  of  the  stock  is  cut  so  as  to  let  the 


COLLECTING  CIONS 


107 


cion  lay  as  flat  as  possible,  but  in  the  case  of  a  large  injury 
a  T  cut  may  be  made  as  in  budding  and  the  cion  put  in 
place  by  bending.  (See  Fig.  53.)  If  the  injury  is  narrow 
and  long  the  cions  may  be  placed  diagonally  across  the  open- 
ing rather  than  vertically  as  in  the  others.  The  cions 
enlarge  as  growth  develops  until  after  two  or  three  years 


Cions 

mm 

Injured  Trunk  Cions  Inserted 

FIG.  53. — Healing  Over  an  Injury  by  Bridge  Grafting. 

they  will  come  together  and  the  injury  will  be  entirely 
healed.  Bridge  grafting  is  applicable  to  the  common 
deciduous,  forest  or  ornamental  trees  as  well  as  to  fruit 
trees. 

Collecting  Cions.  Good  cions  are  essential  to  good 
trees  and  should  therefore  be  collected  with  considerable 
care.  It  is  first  of  all,  important  to  know  the  trees  from 
which  the  cions  are  taken.  A  strong  vigorous  tree  bear- 


108 


GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 


ing  regular  crops  can  be  expected  to  reproduce  this  charac- 
ter from  its  vegetative  parts.  Every  part  of  a  tree  is  not 
necessarily  of  equal  vigor.  The  lower  branches  receiv- 
ing less  sunlight  are  not  as  vigorous  as  the  ones  higher 
up.  Trees  growing  on  good  soil  will  produce  better  cions 
than  trees  from  poorer  soil.  As  in  the  case  of  bud  sticks 


FIG.  54. — Bridge  Graft  after  Two  Years'  Growth. 

select  cions  from  those    trees  which  have    good    bearing 
records  and  from  the  most  vigorous  parts  of  those  trees. 

The  best  cions  are  obtained  from  one  year  old  wood 
of  an  average  growth  of  from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  inches. 
The  longer  the  growing  season  of  any  locality  the  larger 
the  cions  that  can  be  had.  Where  only  a  few  are  needed 
they  may  be  cut  as  fast  as  used.  In  top- working  trees 


REVIEW  QUESTIONS  109 

it  is  preferable  to  use  the  cions  as  soon  as  possible  after 
cutting.  Where  winter  conditions  are  severe  enough  to 
cause  injury  cions  should  be  collected  in  the  fall,  some- 
time preceding  the  expected  heavy  freezes.  In  other 
localities  any  time  through  the  dormant  season  will  answer. 
The  cions  are  clipped  from  the  trees,  tied  up  in  bundles, 
properly  labelled  and  carried  away  to  some  convenient 
storage  place.  They  may  be  placed  in  a  box,  and  covered 
with  sand,  and  set  away  in  some  cool  moist  place  until 
needed.  They  should  be  examined  from  time  to  time  to  see 
that  the  sand  does  not  become  dry.  The  temperature  ought 
not  to  get  above  forty-five  degrees  as  there  will  be  danger  of 
the  buds  starting.  If  proper  attention  be  given  to  mois- 
ture and  temperature  cions  may  be  kept  all  through  the 
dormant  season  without  any  appreciable  loss  of  vitality. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS 

1.  Contrast  grafting  with  budding  as  to  their  importance  in 

nursery  work. 

2.  Describe  the  tools  necessary  for  grafting  work. 

3.  Describe  the  different  grafting  svaxes  and  explain  how  they 

are  made. 

4.  Why  is  an  oil  objectionable  in  any  grafting  wax? 

5.  How  are  waxing  pots  made? 

6.  Give  the  theory  of  grafting. 

7.  List  the  various  grafts  and  explain  where  used. 

8.  Discuss  the  whip  graft — how  made  and  after  treatment. 

9.  What  is  a  callusing  bed,  how  made  and  purpose? 

10.  Give  the  relative  importance  of  piece  root  and  whole  root 
grafts. 


110  GRAFTING  OPERATIONS 

11.  Explain  the  use  and  how  to  make  the  side-whip  graft. 

12.  What  is  "  Top  Working,"  the  importance  and  objects  of  it? 

13.  Explain  Cleft  grafting,  how  done  and  where  desirable. 

14.  Explain  Veneer  grafting,  how  done  and  where  desirable. 

15.  Explain  Side  grafting,  how  done  and  where  desirable. 

16.  Explain  Bark  grafting,  how  done  and  where  desirable. 

17.  Explain  Inarching,  how  done  and  where  desirable. 

18.  Explain  Bridge  grafting,  how  done  and  where  desirable. 

19.  Give  the  essential  points  in  collecting  and  handling  cions. 


CHAPTER  VI 
PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

Cuttings.  A  cutting  is  a  portion  of  the  vegetative 
part  of  a  plant  which  may  be  treated  in  such  a  way  as  to 
form  a  new  individual.  The  resulting  tree  will  be  in 
every  respect  the  exact  duplicate  of  the  parent  from  which 
the  cutting  was  taken,  and  will  need  no  further  treatment 
in  the  way  of  budding  or  grafting  in  order  to  reproduce 
the  same  kind  of  fruit  or  flower.  Plants  propagated 
vegetatively  are  just  as  stable,  just  as  hardy,  and  in 
every  way  equally  as  suitable  for  the  production  of 
fruit  as  those  grown  by  the  usual  methods  of  budding  or 
grafting. 

Every  kind  of  fruit,  so  far  as  is  known,  can  be  repro- 
duced from  cuttings.  The  method  is  practical,  however, 
for  only  a  few  kinds,  as  other  ways  are  easier  and  less  expen- 
sive. The  various  fruits  are  in  no  way  uniform  with  re- 
spect to  the  ease  with  which  they  may  be  propagated  from 
cuttings.  Some  grow  readily  from  any  portion  of  the  plant, 
others  only  certain  parts  can  be  used.  A  number,  includ- 
ing most  of  the  nuts  and  stone  fruits  can  only  be  grown 
with  great  difficulty.  It  is  fortunate  for  the  nurseryman 
and  the  orchardist  that  those  fruits  which  are  the  most 
difficult  to  grow  from  seed,  reproduce  with  ease  from  the 
vegetative  parts. 

Ill 


112  PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

Fruits  Grown  from  Cuttings.  The  various  fruits  that 
are  usually  grown  from  cuttings  may  be  classified  under 
the  following  heads: 

THE  USUAL  METHOD 

Bananas  Gooseberries 

Currants  Grapes 

Dates  Mulberries 

Doucine  Olives 

Figs  Pineapples 

Filberts  Pomegranates 

Quinces 

OCCASIONALLY  USED 

Apples  Mangos 

Citrus  fruits  Persimmons 

Guavas  Pears 

Loquats  Plums 

Parts  Used.  In  nearly  every  case  where  fruits  are 
propagated  from  cuttings  some  part  of  the  trunk  or  branch 
is  used.  Occasionally  roots  are  taken,  but  in  no  case  can 
leaves  be  used  successfully.  With  the  pineapple  and  the 
date  the  cuttings  are  generally  called  "  Suckers  "  and  are 
off-shoots  that  appear  in  the  axils  of  the  leaves.  These 
sometimes  take  root  while  still  attached  to  the  parent 
plant,  but  are  usually  removed  in  the  early  stages  of  growth 
and  rooted  in  the  ground. 

Classification  of  Cuttings.  Stem  cuttings  may  be 
classified  according  to  the  degree  of  maturity  of  the  wood 
from  which  they  are  made.  Dormant  or  Hardwood 
cuttings  are  where  the  plant  has  partially  or  wholly  com- 


PRINCIPLES  INVOLVED  113 

pleted  the  year's  growth  and  passed  into  a  quiescent  stage. 
If  the  plant  is  in  active  growth  the  cuttings  would  be 
semi-dormant.  Cuttings  taken  from  the  young  shoots 
of  the  current  year's  growth  or  from  the  sub-tropical  fruits, 
which  never  pass  into  a  complete  dormant  stage,  belong  to 
this  class.  Then  there  is  a  third  type  of  cutting  made  from 
plants  which  have  only  soft  or  succulent  growths.  Such 
plants  as  geraniums,  cacti  and  many  other  flowering  kinds 
belong  to  this  type.  Vegetative  propagation  from  such 
plants  would  be  called  Softwood  Cuttings. 

Principles  Involved.  The  different  classes  of  cuttings 
are  widely  variable  in  their  physiological  and  chemical 
activities  and  should  therefore  be  treated  differently  in 
the  "processes  of  propagation.  Plant  Physiologists  tell 
us  that  every  part  of  the  individual  plant  has  in  it,  poten- 
tially at  least,  all  the  essentials  necessary  for  the  production 
of  the  mature  individual.  As  the  cell  is  the  unit  of  the  plant 
so  in  that  cell  is  located  everything  necessary  to  develop 
the  future  buds,  roots,  leaves  and  flowers.  That  some  cells 
possess  this  quality  to  a  greater  degree  than  others  is 
amply  proven  by  the  ease  or  difficulty  with  which  differ- 
ent cuttings  may  be  used  for  propagation. 

The  part  of  the  plant  tissue  possessing  the  greater  value 
in  propagation  is  closely  associated  with  the  cambium 
layer.  In  fact  the  same  tissue  which  makes  possible 
budding  and  grafting  produces  the  new  buds,  roots  and 
leaves  where  cuttings  are  used.  The  cambium  layer, 
then,  containing  the  primary  or  unorganized  tissue  is 
the  important  part.  The  stem  and  root  cuttings  of  the 
ordinary  trees  and  shrubs  have  this  tissue  just  beneath 


114  PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

the  bark,  while  most  of  the  leaves  and  the  body  tissue 
of  the  lower  forms  have  it  distributed  through  the  entire 
plant  in  more  or  less  definitely  organized  bundles.  Most 
of  the  softwood  cuttings  belong  to  this  class,  which  makes 
it  necessary  to  give  them  a  different  treatment. 

Cuttings  made  from  dormant  wood  have  the  cambium 
layer  inactive,  and  the  cells  contain  abundance  of  stored 
food,  which  under  normal  conditions  would  carry  the  life 
processes  forward,  until  such  time  as  leaf  growth  would 
enable  the  plant  to  manufacture  more.  Under  such  con- 
ditions growth  starts  slowly.  Ample  time  should  be  given 
dormant  cuttings  that  the  cambium  may  throw  out  a  cal- 
lus to  cover  over  the  wound.  The  temperature  should 
be  raised  gradually  so  that  the  stored  food  may  be  able  to 
take  on  its  natural  functions  without  too  much  haste. 
In  the  case  of  cuttings  taken  from  active  growing  trees, 
the  cambium  is  active,  little  reserve  plant  food  is  avail- 
able, hence  a  long  quiescent  period  is  apt  to  result  in  decay. 
The  growing  tissue  must  be  provided  with  food  and  mois- 
ture, and  conditions  made  favorable  for  a  continuation  of 
growth.  This  is  done  by  leaving  on  a  portion  of  the  leaves 
to  manufacture  food,  removing  only  what  is  necessary  to 
prevent  undue  evaporation  of  moisture,  by  making  the 
lower  cut  close  to  a  node  or  bud  where  the  cambium  tissue 
is  more  abundant  and  by  keeping  the  atmosphere  and  soil 
conditions  surrounding  the  cuttings  more  humid  or  moist. 
These  conditions  are  most  favorable  to  growth  for  the  soft- 
wood and  the  semidormant  cuttings,  and  the  details  of  the 
work  consist  in  the  applying  of  these  principles  in  the 
most  practical  way. 


CALLUSING  BED  115 

Callusing  Bed.  Dormant  cuttings  like  the  whip  graft 
must  be  put  through  a  callusing  process  before  planting 
in  the  open  ground.  This  may  be  done  in  exactly  the 
same  way  as  the  whip  grafts.  The  cuttings  are  made  in 
the  fall  or  early  winter,  tied  up  in  bundles,  properly  labelled 
and  placed  in  the  callusing  bed.  If  sand  is  used  it  may 
be  placed  in  a  cellar  where  the  temperature  will  not  get 
above  fifty  degrees  before  spring.  If  possible,  the  temper- 
ature should  be  held  around  thirty-two  until  mid-winter 
and  then  raised  gradually  until  planting  time  in  the  spring. 
The  cambium  runs  out  at  the  cut  ends  of  the  twigs  and  forms 
a  white  callus  which  later  in  the  spring  throws  off  roots. 
The  roots  do  not  always  come  or  form  from  these  calluses 
but  may  develop  around  the  buds  or  nodes.  In  some  plants, 
as  the  willow,  they  may  develop  at  any  point  between  the 
nodes.  This  latter  represents  adventitious  buds  which 
have  formed  in  the  cambium  layer  and  forced  their  way 
through  the  epidermis. 

Where  dormant  cuttings  are  made  on  a  large  scale  it 
is  often  desirable  to  have  a  callusing  bed  out  in  the  open, 
particularly  is  this  true  in  the  warmer  states.  Such  a  bed 
may  be  located  in  any  convenient  place  where  the  soil  is 
of  a  sandy  nature  and  the  drainage  good.  Under  such  con- 
ditions the  cuttings  should  be  made  early  in  the  fall,  it 
frequently  being  necessary  to  strip  the  leaves  from  the  twigs 
used.  They  would  then  be  tied  in  bundles  and  buried  in 
the  bed  with  the  small  ends  downward;  the  upper  end 
being  only  two  or  three  inches  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  The  sun  shining  on  the  ground  makes  the  soil 
near  the  top  a  little  warmer,  which  tends  to  hasten  the  cal- 


116  PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

lusing  without  materially  disturbing  the  part  that  is  buried 
deeper. 

After  the  cuttings  have  remained  in  these  beds  for 
several  weeks  they  are  removed  and  planted  in  the  nur- 
sery row.  This  is  best  done  late  in  the  fall  when  no  growth 
can  take  place  until  spring.  If  they  are  to  be  left  in  the 
beds  over  the  winter  the  bundles  should  be  dug  up  and 
reburied,  laying  the  cuttings  flatwise.  They  should  then 
be  covered  with  sufficient  soil  or  mulch  to  prevent  freezing 
during  the  colder  months.  It  should  be  mentioned  in  this 
connection  that  the  roots  normally  spring  from  the  end 
of  the  twig  that  was  closest  to  the  roots  before  cutting 
Also  that  root  cuttings  will  throw  out  branches  from  the 
end  that  was  normally  closest  to  the  trunk.  This  condi- 
tion is  known  as  polarity  and  is  probably  the  result  of  the 
same  magnetic  effects  which  causes  branches  to  grow  up 
and  roots  to  grow  down.  It  is  not  at  all  impossible  to 
reverse  root  growth,  as  may  be  illustrated  in  black  rasp- 
berries which  are  rooted  from  the  tips  of  the  canes.  In 
this  particular  case  the  roots  form  from  the  node  just  below 
the  dormant  bud  and  the  latter  point  downward  when 
growth  starts,  but  soon  reverses  and  grows  upward. 

Kinds  of  Cuttings.  Numerous  names  have  been 
applied  to  the  various  cuttings  depending  partially  on  the 
wood  taken  and  partially  on  the  after  treatment.  Those 
most  commonly  used  in  connection  with  the  propagation 
of  tree  fruits  may  be  classified  as  follows: 
Single  eye  cuttings  Mallet  cuttings  Tip  cuttings 

Simple  cuttings         Root  cuttings  Softwood  cuttings 

Heel  cuttings  Nurse  root  cuttings     Truncheons 


SINGLE  EYE  CUTTINGS 


117 


Single  Eye  Cuttings.  Where  wood  for  cuttings  is 
scarce,  a  single  bud  or  node  with  a  portion  of  the  wood  on 
both  sides  may  be  used.  This  is  sometimes  done  with 
rare  varieties  of  grapes,  roses  and  many  of  the  ornamental 


FIG.  55.— Types  of  Cuttings,     (a)  Simple  Cutting,    (b)  Mallet  Cutting. 
(c)  Tip  Cutting. 

shrubs.  This  method  works  best  where  bottom  heat  can 
be  had  as  in  greenhouses  or  glass  propagating  houses.  It 
is  difficult  to  use  in  the  open  ground  unless  the  variety 
is  one  especially  easy  to  grow.  (See  a,  Fig.  55.) 

Most  nursery  companies  are  provided  with  glass  houses, 
especially  arranged  for  the  work  of  propagation.     Benches 


118  PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

or  beds  are  used,  which  are  so  arranged  that  a  gentle  bottom 
heat  may  be  applied  at  any  time.  Either  hot  water  or 
steam  may  be  used.  The  benches  are  filled  with  a  fine  clean 
sand  in  which  the  cuttings  are  placed.  If  the  single  eye 
cuttings  are  made  of  dormant  wood  they  are  first  callused 
as  described  above  and  then  placed  in  the  propagating 
bench.  The  temperature  is  started  at  about  fifty  degrees 
and  gradually  raised,  through  a  period  of  several  weeks 
until  a  normal-growing  condition  is  reached.  If  the  cut- 
tings are  softwood  or  semi-dormant  the  callusing  process 
is  omitted  and  the  cuttings  placed  immediately  in  the  prop- 
agating bench.  With  this  method  the  sand  should  be  free 
from  organic  matter  to  prevent  decay. 

Simple  Cuttings.  This  is  the  common  form  of  cuttings 
used  in  outdoor  propagation.  Grapes,  figs,  mulberries 
and  sometimes  olives  are  grown  by  this  method.  One  year 
old  dormant  wood  is  usually  taken;  although  with  the  olive 
and  citrus  fruits  the  semi-dormant  is  sometimes  used. 
As  each  fruit  is  treated  somewhat  differently  in  this  method 
of  propagation  each  one  will  be  considered  separately. 

Grapes.  The  simple  cutting  is  the  only  practical  method 
for  propagating  the  grape.  The  cuttings  are  made  either 
in  the  fall  after  most  of  the  leaves  have  dropped,  or  some- 
time through  the  winter  in  connection  with  the  pruning. 
They  should  be  made  of  well-matured  wood  of  one  season's 
growth  and  should  be  from  sixteen  to  twenty  inches  long. 
The  lower  end  should  be  cut  close  to  the  bud  or  node 
and  the  upper  end  within  a  half  inch  of  the  node.  If 
cut  late  in  the  fall  they  may  be  transferred  direct  to  the 
nursery  row.  A  good  deep  sandy  loam  is  prepared  as  for 


SIMPLE  CUTTINGS  119 

a  seed  bed  and  the  cuttings  set  by  means  of  an  iron  bar. 
Holes  are  punched  deep  enough  to  admit  the  cutting, 
leaving  only  the  last  bud  sticking  out.  These  are  then 
made  compact  in  the  soil  by  pushing  the  bar  down  a  few 
inches  to  the  side.  From  fifty  to  eighty  per  cent  will 
take  root  by  this  method. 

Where  the  cuttings  are  made  through  the  winter  they 
are  taken  to  the  callusing  pit  where  they  remain  until 
spring  before  setting  in  the  nursery  row.  Where  calluses 
form,  the  cutting  may  be  expected  to  grow;  if  the  ends 
have  turned  black  it  should  be  discarded.  Where  the 
European  varieties  are  grown,  as  on  the  Pacific  Coast  for 
raisins,  it  often  becomes  necessary  to  graft  the  standard 
varieties  on  to  stock  that  is  resistant  to  the  grape  phyl- 
loxera. Most  of  the  American  species  are  resistant  to  this 
insect  hence  they  may  be  used  for  stock  for  the  European 
varieties.  The  cuttings  are  made  in  the  usual  way  but 
before  rooting  they  are  grafted  to  the  desired  variety  as 
illustrated  in  6  Fig.  56.  The  union  is  very  similar  to  the 
one  used  in  whip  grafting  apples,  except  that  the  cut  is 
more  nearly  straight  across  the  stock. 

If  the  work  is  done  carefully  no  tying  or  waxing  will  be 
necessary.  The  buds  below  the  graft  are  cut  off  so  other 
sprouts  than  the  one  desired  will  not  start.  One  or  two 
buds  on  the  bottom  of  the  stock  are  left  from  which  roots 
can  develop.  After  the  grafting  is  done,  the  cutting, 
graft  and  all,  is  placed  in  a  special  callusing  bed  where  the 
temperature  can  be  controlled.  Calluses  form  on  the 
ends  of  the  cutting  and  at  the  union  at  the  same  time. 
These  remain  in  the  beds  until  spring  when  they  are  trans- 


120  PEOPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

ferred  to  the  nursery  and  treated  the  same  as  for  the  or- 
dinary cutting.     One  season  is  usually  enough  to  form  a 


FIG.    56. — (a)  Simple    Grape    Cutting.     (6)  Grafted    Grape    Cutting 
Showing  Method  of  Dis-budding. 

fair  root  system,  though  many  nurserymen  prefer  two  years 
before  setting  in  the  vineyard. 


HEEL  CUTTINGS  121 

Figs.  Seed  from  commercial  figs  can  be  germinated  only 
with  great  difficulty  even  under  the  best  greenhouse  condi- 
tions. They  are,  however,  easily  propagated  from  cuttings. 
These  are  ordinarily  made  about  ten  inches  in  length, 
using  wood  that  calipers  from  three-eighths  to  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  bottom  end  is  cut 
close  tp  a  bud  as  in  the  grape.  In  fact  it  should  be  cut 
right  into  the  wood  partition,  so  that  there  is  no  pith 
cavity  left  at  the  bottom  end  of  the  cutting.  In  the  warmer 
parts  of  the  United  States  where  figs  are  commonly  grown 
the  cuttings  can  best  be  made  in  January  or  February. 
They  are  tied  into  bundles  and  placed  in  the  callusing 
bed  bottom  end  up.  The  ends  soon  heal  over  and  by  the 
latter  part  of  March  they  can  be  transplanted  in  the  nur- 
sery row.  Sufficient  moisture  should  be  provided  that  they 
will  not  dry  out  during  the  summer. 

The  other  fruits  that  are  sometimes  propagated  by  means 
of  the  simple  cutting  are  the  mulberry,  quince,  pomegran- 
ate, currant,  gooseberry  and  occasionally  the  apple  and 
some  of  the  citrus  fruits.  The  treatment  for  all  of  these 
is  very  much  the  same;  the  cutting  is  made  when  the  wood 
is  dormant,  or  as  near  as  may  be,  placed  in  the  callusing 
bed  in  the  fall  to  heal  over  and  then  removed  to  the  nur- 
sery row.  In  the  warmer  parts  of  the  country  where  the 
falls  are  late  and  the  fruit  wood  matures  early  it  is  best  to 
remove  the  cuttings  from  the  callusing  bed  and  set  in  the 
nursery  before  very  cold  weather.  In  the  colder  states 
they  are  better  left  in  the  beds  over  winter  and  set  in  the 
nursery  in  the  spring. 

Heel     Cuttings.     It     sometimes     happens     that     the 


122 


PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 


simple  cuttings  will  start  much  more  easily  if  a  part  of  the 
branch  from  which  it  is  taken  is  removed  with  it.  This 
piece  is  known  as  a  "  heel  "  from  which  the  cutting  takes 


Orange  Lemon 

FIG.  57. — Cuttings  as  Sometimes  Used  on  the  Citrus  Fruits. 

its  name.  (See  b,  Fig.  55.)  The  number  of  cuttings  that 
can  be  made  by  this  method  is  much  less  than  the  simple 
way  as  each  branch  can  produce  but  one.  The  grape 
and  the  olive  are  sometimes  grown  in  this  way  when  the 
other  methods  fail.  The  doucine  stock  which  is  used  for  a 


MALLET  CUTTINGS  123 

partial  dwarfing  of  the  apple  is  propagated  in  this  manner. 
The  top  of  the  main  tree  is  cut  off,  thus  forcing  many  ad- 
ventitious buds  along  the  stem  and  around  the  base.  When 
these  have  made  one  year's  growth  they  are  pulled  or  cut 
off  of  the  parent  plant  and  treated  as  a  cutting.  Roots 
readily  form  from  the  enlarged  base. 

Mallet  Cuttings.  This  method  is  very  similar  to  the 
one  just  described.  Instead  of  cutting  out  a  piece  at  the 
base  of  the  branch,  the  entire  limb  is  removed  and  a  short 
portion  left  with  each  cutting.  It  possesses  no  particular 
advantage  over  the  heel  cutting, — the  chief  purpose  being 
to  aid  in  the  pruning  of  the  tree.  Unless  the  plant  is  grown 
for  the  purpose  of  producing  cuttings  only,  the  removal 
of  the  piece  for  the  heel  cutting  will  leave  the  branch  so 
weak  that  it  would  have  to  be  removed.  In  all  such 
cases  it  is  just  as  well  to  cut  the  branch  off  first  and  then 
make  the  mallet  cutting.  The  piece  which  constitutes  the 
mallet  should  not  project  more  than  one  inch  on  each 
side  of  the  cutting  proper.  If  the  cut  can  be  made  with  a 
knife  instead  of  a  saw  the  roots  will  start  more  easily. 
Fig.  55  (6)  represents  a  mallet  cutting,  while  the  dotted 
line  running  through  the  base  indicates  where  the  cut 
should  be  made  to  produce  a  heel  cutting. 

Root  Cuttings.  Practically  all  the  tree  fruits  that 
will  grow  readily  from  cuttings  made  from  the  branches 
may  be  similarly  grown  from  pieces  of  the  roots.  In  the 
case  of  budded  or  grafted  trees  this  practice  would  be  of 
no  value,  as  such  root  cuttings  would  only  produce  stock 
on  which  other  varieties  would  have  to  be  worked.  Where 
roots  are  used  for  cuttings,  branches  should  be  selected 


124  PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

that  caliper  from  one-quarter  to  one-half  inch  in  diam- 
eter. These  should  be  cut  from  eight  to  ten  inches  long 
and  put  through  the  same  treatment  in  the  callusing  bed 
as  the  simple  cutting.  They  may  be  taken  either  in  the 
fall  or  spring  and  will  often  work  successfully  where  cut 
in  the  summer.  After  the  calluses  are  formed  they  are 
transferred  to  the  nursery  row,  placing  them  from  six  to 
eight  inches  apart.  Often  sprouts  may  be  produced  from 
roots  by  the  simple  method  of  severing  the  smaller  roots 
from  the  parent  plant  without  disturbing  their  feeding 
tips.  Buds  will  form  near  the  end  from  which  shoots  will 
grow.  When  these  are  one  year  old  they  are  dug  up  and 
treated  as  new  plants. 

Nurse  Root  Cuttings.  This  is  a  somewhat  new  de- 
parture in  tree  fruit  propagation.  It  is  being  worked  in  a 
practical  way  in  a  number  of  nurseries  and  has  given 
highly  satisfactory  results.  The  cutting  is  made  very 
similar  to  the  simple  one  except  that  it  is  not  so  long,  eight 
to  ten  inches  being  sufficient.  On  the  bottom  end  is  placed 
a  small  piece  of  root  known  as  a  nurse  root.  This  is  grafted 
on  as  illustrated  in  Fig.  53  or  a  simple  whip  graft  may  be 
used.  This  root  gives  the  cutting  a  quicker  connection 
with  the  soil,  then  later  as  growth  develops  new  roots  form 
from  the  cutting  proper,  which  eventually  become  the  chief 
support  of  the  tree. 

This  method  was  the  outgrowth  of  a  series  of  studies 
of  the  influence  of  stock  on  the  cion.  It  was  found  that 
many  desirable  varieties  of  fruit  were  lacking  in  vigor  due 
partially  to  the  poor  union  with  the  stock  and  partially 
to  the  inherent  weakness  of  the  variety  itself.  Such  are 


NURSE  ROOT  CUTTINGS 


125 


often  improved  when  grown  from  rooted  cuttings.     Some 
varieties  of  fruit  are  more  resistant  to  diseases  than  any  root 


FIG.  58.— Nurse  Root  Cutting. 

on  which  they  may  be  worked.     This  may  be  illustrated 
by  the  resistance  of  the  Northern  Spy  apple  roots  to  the 


126  PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

woolly  aphis.  Often  varieties  of  fruit  are  better  adapted 
to  local  conditions,  such  as  extremes  of  humidity,  low  tem- 
peratures of  the  north  or  the  prairies  of  the  northwest  when 
grown  from  their  own  rooted  cuttings.  In  most  of  these 
cases,  the  nurse  root  is  the  best  method  where  the  varieties 
do  not  root  readily  from  their  own  cuttings. 

Tip  Cuttings.  This  is  a  method  where  semi-dormant 
wood  is  used  and  is  adapted  to  such  fruits  as  the  olive, 
loquat  and  ornamentals  like  the  oleander  which  are  ever- 
green and  have  a  more  or  less  heavy  foliage.  The  olive 
in  particular  is  propagated  in  this  manner  in  a  number  of 
nurseries  in  California.  Mr.  W.  T.  Kirkman,  of  Fresno, 
describes  the  process  as  follows:  "  The  cuttings  are  made 
about  three  inches  long  from  the  tip  wood,  or  small  wood 
near  the  tips  of  the  branches.  Two  leaves  are  left 
on  each  piece  near  the  top  of  the  cutting, — the  bottom 
end  is  cut  close  to  the  bud — in  fact,  right  against  the  bud. 
These  small  cuttings  are  best  made  in  October  and  should  be 
immediately  placed  into  a  sand  bed,  where  they  are  rooted. 
It  is  usually  necessary  to  supply  a  medium  bottom  heat 
during  the  winter. "  These  rooted  cuttings  are  placed  in 
the  nursery  row  in  the  spring  where  from  one  to  two 
years  is  required  to  produce  a  nursery  tree  measuring 
from  three  to  five  feet  in  height.  (See  c,  Fig.  55.) 

Truncheons.  Some  few  fruits  and  a  number  of  kinds 
of  trees  may  be  grown  from  pieces  of  wood  ranging  much 
larger  in  size  than  used  in  an  ordinary  cutting.  Such 
pieces  used  in  propagation  are  known  as  truncheons.  The 
method  is  slow  and  not  altogether  satisfactory,  but  never- 
theless is  used  in  Europe  to  some  extent  in  propagating 


TRUNCHEONS  127 

the  olive.  The  branches  from  one-half  inch  to  three 
inches  that  are  cut  off  in  pruning  are  carefully  saved  and 
used  for  production  of  new  trees.  The  small  pieces  are 
split  in  half,  while  the  larger  ones  are  quartered.  These 
are  then  buried  in  the  propagating  bed,  placing  each  piece 
in  a  horizontal  position  with  the  bark  uppermost,  and  from 
three  to  four  inches  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  This 
is  best  done  in  the  early  spring,  moisture  being  supplied 
throughout  the  summer  and  clean  culture  given.  The 
buds  at  the  nodes  gradually  develop  into  branches  and  roots 


FIG.  59. — Propagating  Olives  by  Use  of  Truncheons. 

form  around  their  base.  After  two  summers'  growth  the 
entire  truncheon  is  dug  up  and  the  pieces  containing  the 
desired  sprouts  are  cut  off  with  a  saw  and  transferred  to 
the  permanent  grove.  Occasionally  three  years  will  be 
necessary  to  produce  a  good  tree.  (Fig.  59.) 

Softwood  Cuttings.  Unless  the  suckers  or  offshoots 
used  in  propagating  bananas  and  pineapples  may  be  classed 
as  softwood  cuttings,  this  method  would  have  little  use 
among  nurserymen.  It  properly  belongs  in  a  discussion 
of  the  methods  of  vegetative  propagation  used  in  the  great 
class  of  soft,  succulent  perennials  so  common  to  the  florist. 


128  PROPAGATION  BY  CUTTINGS 

For  all  of  this  class  of  plants  which  do  not  readily  repro- 
duce from  seed  this  method  is  by  far  the  most  important. 
To  get  the  best  results  with  softwood  cuttings,  green- 
house conditions  are  necessary.  A  good  propagating  bench, 
with  five  or  six  inches  of  clean,  coarse  sand,  facilities  for 
providing  bottom  heat,  an  even  distribution  of  tempera- 
ture and  a  close  glass  cover  for  the  bed  to  regulate  the 
humidity,  are  some  of  the  conditions  necessary.  For  all 
such  cuttings  three  principles  should  be  kept  in  mind: 
First,  young  wood  formed  somewhat  late  in  the  life  of 
the  individual  will  root  the  easiest.  Second,  the  cuttings 
are  made  while  the  plants  are  in  active  growth  and  they 
should,  therefore,  contain  just  sufficient  leaf  surface  to 
keep  up  the  life  processes  of  the  plant  and  not  enough  to 
cause  undue  loss  of  moisture.  Third,  in  regard  to  mois- 
ture and  temperature,  keep  the  cuttings  under  similar 
conditions  in  which  the  parent  made  the  best  growth. 
Roots  will  form  in  a  short  time,  when  the  cuttings  are  re- 
moved from  the  propagating  bed  and  treated  according 
to  the  requirements  of  each  individual. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS 

1 .  What  is  a  cutting? 

2.  What  fruits  are  usually  propagated  by  cuttings? 

3.  What  parts  of  plants  may  be  used  as  cuttings,  which  are  the 

most  common? 

4.  How  are  cuttings  classified? 

5.  What  principles  are  involved  in  growing  plants  from  cuttings? 

6.  Describe  the  callusing  bed  and  how  used. 

7.  Give  the  various  kinds  of  cuttings. 


REVIEW  QUESTIONS  129 

8.  Explain  the  use,  preparation  and  treatment  of  the  following 

kinds  of  cuftings : 

(a)  Single  Eye  Cutting. 
(6)  Simple  Cutting. 

(c)  Heel  Cutting. 

(d)  Mallet  Cutting. 

(e)  Root  Cutting. 

(/)   Nurse  Root  Cutting. 
(#)  Tip  Cutting. 
Qi)  Softwood  Cutting, 
(i)    Truncheon. 

9.  Review  the  general  importance  of  cuttings  in  nursery  work. 
10.  Compare  cuttings  with  grafting  or  budding  as  to  vigor,  pro- 
ductiveness, etc. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE   AFTER   TREATMENT   OF    NURSERY  STOCK 

WHETHER  or  not  a  desirable  nursery  tree  can  be  pro- 
duced in  one  or  two  years  from  the  bud  or  graft  will  depend 
upon  two  things:  first,  the  particular  kind  of  fruit  and 
second,  upon  the  length  of  the  growing  season.  Where  the 
average  length  of  the  growing  season  runs  from  ninety 
to  one  hundred  and  twenty  days,  two  years  will  be  neces- 
sary for  most  lands.  This  would  include  most  of  the  region 
of  the  United  States  lying  north  of  the  cities  of  New  York, 
Chicago  and  Denver.  South  of  these  cities  the  season  is 
long  enough  that  all  of  the  more  rapid-growing  fruits  will 
develop  in  one  year  from  bud.  Even  such  trees  as  the  Per- 
sian Walnut  will  often  grow  from  six  to  nine  feet  in  a  single 
year  from  grafts.  This  would  seem  at  first  thought  to  give 
the  south  a  big  advantage  in  the  economy  with  which 
the  work  can  be  done.  While  this  may  be  true  in  specific 
cases,  the  advantages  are  more  than  offset  by  the  greater 
number  of  insects  and  diseases  that  have  to  be  contended 
with. 

Summer  Culture.  The  culture  of  nursery  trees  does 
not  differ  in  any  material  way  from  many  of  the  farm 
crops.  Clean  cultivation  is  necessary.  All  weeds  are 
kept  out  and  the  soil  stirred  enough  to  conserve  the  mois- 
ture. The  most  important  part  of  the  work  is  to  make 
the  young  trees  keep  a  steady  and  regular  growth  through- 
ISO 


SUMMER  CULTURE 


131 


out  the  season.  A  stunted  tree  is  always  undersized,  lack- 
ing in  vigor  and  more  subject  to  attacks  of  insects  and  fun- 
gus diseases.  In  most  sections  of  the  United  States  there 
is  always  danger  of  a  dry  period  some  time  in  August  or 
September.  Where  this  condition  is  present  and  moisture 
becomes  scarce,  the  trees  receive  a  check  in  their  growth 


FIG.  60.— A  Gasoline  Tractor  used  for  Cultivation. 

which  may  result  in  the  formation  of  terminal  buds  indi- 
cating the  passing  of  the  tree  into  a  dormant  stage.  Where 
this  occurs  before  the  close  of  the  normal-growing  season 
a  late  rain  may  again  start  growth,  which  is  always  unde- 
sirable, producing  a  weak  and  abnormal  condition.  Such 
trees  as  may  have  this  extra  growth  can  easily  be  detected 
by  the  formation  of  the  terminal  bud  rings  with  a  few  inches 
of  lighter  colored  wood  beyond. 


132    THE  AFTEE  TREATMENT  OF  NUESERY  STOCK 

Heading  Back.  This  is  a  process  of  cutting  off  the 
tips  of  the  young  trees,  in  order  to  force  more  lateral 
branches  and  develop  a  more  stocky  trunk.  Such  fruits 
as  peaches,  apricots  and  cherries  may  grow  so  late  into  the 
fall  that  winter  injury  may  result.  The  heading  back 
checks  this,  besides  giving  a  uniform  height  to  all  the 


FIG,  61. — Cultivating  Seventy  Acres  a  Day  by  Gasoline  Power. 

trees.  The  pome  fruits  are  not  usually  given  this  treat- 
ment. The  operation  is  performed  with  an  ordinary  pruning 
shears.  The  operator  walks  along  the  row  clipping  the 
tops  almost  as  fast  as  he  can  walk. 

Trimming  Up.  Practically  all  nursery  trees  have  the 
lower  branches  removed  to  a  height  of  sixteen  or  eighteen 
inches  when  sold.  This  makes  a  neater  looking  tree  and 
one  that  is  easier  to  handle  in  shipping.  The  lower  branches 


SPRAYING  133 

are  of  no  consequence  to  the  tree,  as  they  are  weak  and  often 
poorly  developed,  due  to  the  shading  by  the  higher  branches. 
Most  nursery  trees  are  grown  very  close  together,  often 
no  more  than  two  or  three  inches  apart  in  the  row.  After 
growth  is  well  under  way  little  sunshine  gets  through  the 
thick  tops  and  the  bottom  branches  are  starved  for  the 
want  of  food.  This  results  in  tall  straight  trees  which 
so  delight  the  nurserymen.  If  the  young  plants  were 
allowed  more  room  they  would  develop  larger  lateral 
branches,  the  trunks  would  be  less  straight,  the  tree  would 
be  oversized  and  in  every  way  less  desirable  for  a  good 
orchard  tree.  The  trimming  of  the  trunks  is  done  near  the 
close  of  the  growing  season,  leaving  only  a  short  time 
for  the  healing  of  the  wounds  before  the  trees  are  dug. 
A  heavy  knife  with  a  curved  blade  is  used  for  the  pruning 
work.  The  operator  works  from  the  ground  upward  with 
short  heavy  strokes  which  require  the  use  of  both  hands. 

Spraying.  The  nurseryman,  like  the  fruit-grower,  is 
troubled  'with  numerous  insect  pests  and  fungus  diseases. 
These  must  be  controlled  by  careful  attention  to  spray- 
ing. Probably  the  worst  of  all  the  troubles  of  this  kind 
would  be  the  San  Jose  scale  and  the  Root  Knot.  Plant 
lice  sometimes  become  serious,  while  thrips  and  the 
yellow  or  red  mites  are  frequently  troublesome  in  the  more 
arid  regions  of  the  southwest.  The  San  Jose  scale  and  the 
Root  Knot  are  especially  bad  from  the  ease  with  which 
they  may  be  carried  with  the  nursery  stock  and  spread 
over  the  country  wherever  the  stock  may  be  shipped. 
The  former  may  be  controlled  by  dormant  sprays  and 
isolation  of  infected  areas,  while  the  latter  is  a  bacterial 


134     THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 

disease  and  not  amenable  to  spray  treatments.  Moreover 
the  disease  may  remain  in  the  soil  from  year  to  year  and 
reinfect  the  succeeding  plantings. 

In  former  years  where  these  troubles  were  less  marked, 
there  were  no  restrictions  on  the  shipping  of  the  stock, 
and  as  a  result,  many  troubles  were  spread  far  and  wide 
over  the  country.  Now,  most  states  have  regulatory 
measures  and  nursery  companies  must  submit  their  stock 
to  a  rigid  inspection  by  some  state  official  before  it  can  be 
shipped.  The  Government  also  has  official  inspectors 
to  regulate  interstate  shipments,  and  quarantine  offices 
to  look  after  stock  that  may  be  imported.  While  this 
work  is  recognized  as  being  efficient  in  preventing  the 
shipping  of  diseased  stock,  still,  there  is  always  a  possible 
danger. 

Spray  Machines.  Nursery  work  requires  a  special  kind 
of  spray  outfit.  Such  an  equipment  must  work  rapidly, 
must  cover  several  rows  at  once  and  be  able  to  do  the  work 
while  moving  across  the  field.  In  many  cases  it  is  neces- 
sary to  get  the  spray  down  along  the  trunk  when  the  tops 
are  very  close  and  thick.  Any  machine  that  would  be  large 
enough  to  pass  over  the  tops  of  the  trees  without  damag- 
ing them,  could  not  help  but  be  awkward  and  unwieldy. 
Many  types  of  such  sprayers  have  been  devised  but  the  one 
shown  in  Fig.  62  has  been  worked  successfully  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  It  was  manufactured  by  the  Greening 
Nursery  Company  of  Munroe,  Michigan,  and  will  success  • 
fully  spray  the  trees  from  ground  to  tips. 

Counting  the  Trees.  It  is  always  desirable  that  nur- 
serymen have  an  estimate  of  the  number  of  salable  trees 


COUNTING  THE  TREES 


135 


some  time  before  they  are  ready  to  dig.  Not  all  the  trees 
will  be  good  ones  and  those  that  have  crooked  trunks  or  are 
deformed  in  any  way  must  be  discarded.  Those  that  are 
good  go  into  different  grades  according  to  their  height  or 
degree  of  perfection.  The  counting  is  usually  done  with 
a  small  mechanical  device  which  records  the  results  auto- 


FIG.  62. — A  Successful  Nursery  Spray  Outfit. 

matically.  The  operator  walks  along  the  row  and  as  he 
glances  at  the  trees  he  pulls  the  trips  on  the  machine  ac- 
cording to  his  estimate  of  the  grade  of  the  trees.  With  a 
little  training  one  may  count  the  trees  and  place  them  in 
grades  as  fast  as  one  can  walk.  This  estimate  of  the  num- 
ber of  salable  trees  is  turned  into  the  office  where  they 
are  segregated  and  turned  over  to  the  sales  force,  or  pub- 
lished in  the  catalog. 


136    THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 

Digging  the  Trees.  In  the  fall  the  trees  that  are  old 
enough  to  sell  must  be  removed  from  the  ground  and  placed 
in  a  storage  house,  where  they  can  be  graded  and  packed 
for  shipping  during  the  winter  months.  In  a  home  nur- 


FIG.  63. — Steam  Tree  Digger  in  which  the  Share  is  Drawn  by  a  Cable 
Pulled  from  a  Stationary  Engine  and  Drum. 

sery,  this  digging  is  done  with  a  spade,  but  where  the  num- 
ber runs  to  only  a  few  thousands  this  method  is  impracti- 
cal. However,  the  spade  is  a  poor  tool  and  often  severely 
damages  the  roots  of  the  trees. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  mechanical  diggers  in  use  in 
various  parts  of  the  country.     The  cheaper  and  more  com- 


PULLING  137 

mon  one  is  a  special  plow  pulled  by  horses.  This  plow 
contains  two  beams,  one  on  each  side  of  the  row.  These 
are  connected  by  a  special  U-shaped  share  which  runs 
under  the  row  cutting  off  the  roots  from  sixteen  to  eighteen 
inches  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  share  does 
not  lift  the  trees  but  passes  on  under  them  leaving  them 
upright  in  their  original  position  but  loose  enough  that 
one  man  may  easily  pull  them  out.  The  other  two  types 
of  diggers  differ  mainly  in  the  kind  of  power  used.  Where 
steam  power  is  used  the  engine  is  stationary,  and  the  share 
is  pulled  across  the  field  with  wire  cables.  This  method 
makes  it  necessary  to  plant  the  trees  in  blocks  of  only  a 
few  hundred  feet  across  so  that  the  cables  will  not  be  too 
long.  It  is  also  necessary  to  carry  the  share  back  each 
time  as  it  will  dig  the  tree3  only  one  way  across  the  field. 
More  recently  gasoline  tractors  have  been  designed  for  this 
purpose  with  far  better  results  than  either  of  the  other 
methods.  With  the  steam  outfit  illustrated  in  Fig.  63 
seven  men  are  required  for  the  operation,  while  with  the 
tractor  two  men  will  do  the  same  work  and  the  trees  can 
be  dug  both  ways  across  the  field.  Long  rows  can  be 
handled  as  easily  as  the  short  ones.  As  many  as  five  to 
ten  thousand  trees  an  hour  may  be  dug  with  one  of  these 
machines. 

Pulling.  After  the  digger  has  passed  under  the  rows 
the  next  step  is  to  pull  out  the  trees  and  place  them  in  piles 
ready  for  hauling  to  the  storage  shed.  The  trees  are  lifted 
out,  the  soil  shaken  from  the  roots,  and  a  hasty  examina- 
tion made  for  root  knct  or  defects  that  would  spoil  the 
sale  of  the  plant.  The  poor  ones  are  discarded  and  the  good 


138    THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 

ones  are  placed  in  piles  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  each.  These 
are  followed  by  the  wagon  or  truck  which  picks  up  the 
bundles  and  carries  them  to  the  storage  sheds  or  fumiga- 
ting house.  The  trees  are  piled  on  the  wagons  like  loads 
of  hay,  placing  the  roots  alternately  to  the  outside  of  the 
load.  The  loader  uses  rubber-soled  shoes  and  walks  on 
the  tops  of  the  trees  so  very  little  damage  is  done.  Care- 


FIG.  64. — Pulling  the  Trees  After  the  Digger  Has  Passed. 

lessness  in  loading  or  handling  may  peel  the  bark  from  the 
trunk  which  makes  the  tree  unfit  for  use. 

Fumigation.  In  many  states  the  fumigation  of  all 
nursery  stock  is  required  by  law.  In  such  states,  the  work 
is  usually  done  while  the  trees  are  on  the  trucks  enroute 
to  the  storage  sheds.  Special  air-tight  buildings  are  re- 
quired for  this  work.  They  are  usually  just  large  enough 
to  hold  one  truckload  of  trees.  As  they  come  from  the 


STORAGE  SHEDS  139 

field  they  are  driven  into  these  sheds,  the  team  removed, 
the  building  closed  up  and  the  trees  exposed  to  the  fumes 
of  hydro-cyanic  acid  gas.  This  is  used  primarily  against 
the  scale  insects  and  has  little  or  no  effect  upon  any  of  the 
fungus  troubles.  The  process  is  always  attended  with 
some  danger  as  the  gas  is  extremely  poisonous.  It  re- 


FIG.  65. — Hauling  the  Trees  to  the  Storage  House. 

quires  from  twenty  to  thirty  minutes  to  fumigate  a  load 
of  trees. 

Storage  Sheds.  Where  nursery  trees  are  grown  to  any 
considerable  extent,  some  arrangement  will  be  necessary 
whereby  the  trees  can  be  graded  and  packed  for  shipment 
during  the  winter  months.  Where  the  winters  are  too 
disagreeable  to  work  out  in  the  open,  sheds  must  be  pro- 
vided. In  the  colder  states  these  must  be  built  substan- 
tial enough  to  hold  a  large  number  of  trees  and  sufficiently 


140    THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 

well  insulated  against  the  cold  that  the  men  may  work 
comfortably.  The  majority  of  such  buildings  consist 
mainly  of  walls  and  roof  as  the  floors  are  mostly  of  dirt. 
The  interior  is  divided  off  into  stalls  or  apartments  by  the 
posts  or  pillars  that  support  the  roof. 


FIG.  66.— A  Fumigating  Building  with  Load  of  Trees  Ready  for  the 

Gas. 

As  the  trees  are  brought  in  from  the  field  or  fumigating 
house  they  are  placed  in  these  stalls.  The  bundles  are 
tiered  to  a  height  of  eight  or  ten  feet,  placing  the  roots  to 
the  outside  the  same  as  they  were  loaded  on  the  truck. 
Narrow  alleys  are  left  when  needed  for  the  men  to  make 
examinations  from  time  to  time.  The  sections  are  filled 
with  single  varieties  and  no  effort  is  made  to  label  the 


GRADING 


141 


bundles  until  after  they  are  regraded.  Where  the  roots 
are  exposed  to  the  open  air  they  are  covered  with  moss, 
chaff  or  some  material  that  will  hold  moisture  and  keep 
them  from  drying  out.  These  stalls  are  examined  occa- 
sionally and  if  there  is  any  signs  of  drying  out  they  are 
sprinkled  with  a  hose.  It  is  important  that  the  roots 


FIG.  67. — Trees  as  Stored  in  Cellars  Previous  to  Grading. 

remain  fresh  and  moist  until  they  are  again  planted  in  some- 
one's orchard.  Many  nursery  companies  in  the  Gulf 
states  or  in  California  are  able  to  dispense  with  these 
sheds,  and  instead,  the  trees  are  heeled-in  out  in  the  open 
where  they  are  graded  and  packed  for  shipping. 

Grading.  After  the  trees  have  all  been  dug  and  stored 
for  the  winter  the  process  of  grading  and  labelling  begins. 
The  storage  sheds  are  large  enough  that  the  stalls  of  trees 


142    THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 

may  be  taken  down,  graded  and  labelled  and  restored  in 
another  part  of  the  building.  Here  all  the  different  varie- 
ties are  collected  in  ricks  so  placed  that  the  orders  may 
be  conveniently  filled.  All  the  trees  are  examined  by  ex- 
perts and  those  not  suited  for  selling,  or  those  that  arc 
nijured  in  any  way  are  thrown  out.  The  ones  that  are 


FIG.  68.— Trees  in  Ricks  Ready  for  Filling  Orders. 

passed  are  taken  to  another  grading  table  and  sorted  into 
grades  or  classes  according  to  the  size.  The  trees  are 
placed  in  bundles  of  twenty-five  each,  pressed  together 
and  tied.  A  label  is  now  placed  on  each  bundle  for  future 
identification.  Considerable  skill  is  necessary  to  make 
a  neat  and  attractive  bundle.  Where  the  trees  are  budded 
the  slight  curve  at  the  union  is  turned  so  they  all  set  in  the 
same  relative  position,  making  a  close  compact  bundle. 


GRADES  OF  TREES— SALES  METHOD  143 

Grades  of  Trees.  The  term  grade  as  applied  to  nur- 
sery trees  is  somewhat  of  a  misnomer  as  it  infers  that  some 
trees  are  better  than  others.  What  is  really  meant,  is 
classes  into  which  the  trees  are  divided  according  to  their 
size  or  caliper.  Most  grades  are  based  on  the  height  of 
the  trees  although  some  few  companies  also  list  the  trunk 
diameter.  It  should  not  be  inferred  that  a  number  one 
tree  or  a  first-grade  tree  is  the  best  to  buy  for  orchard  work. 
It  often  happens  that  this  grade  represents  oversized  trees 
which  may  be  less  desirable  than  the  number  twos  or 
second-grade  trees. 

Most  nursery  companies  list  four  grades  or  sizes  of  trees. 
Three  of  these  usually  represent  stock  two  years  from 
buds  while  the  fourth  is  only  one  year's  growth.  A  fair 
average  of  the  different  companies  would  represent  a  classi- 
fication about  as  follows: 

Grade  1  or  Class  1  or  X,  2  years  from  bud;  5  to  6  feet. 

"     2        "        2  "         XX,  2         "  4  to  5    " 

"      3        "        3  "      XXX,  2         "  3  to  4    " 

«     4       «        4  "  XXXX,  1  3  to  4    " 

Sales  Methods.  Nursery  companies  that  have  to 
dispose  of  from  one  to  two  million  trees  annually  have  to 
develop  a  particularly  strong  sales  force.  There  are  but 
three  channels  through  which  the  bulk  of  the  stock  reaches 
the  orchardist.  The  oldest  and  probably  the  most  common 
is  through  agents  scattered  over  the  various  fruit  sections. 
The  second  is  the  direct  selling  to  the  grower  through  the 
medium  of  the  catalogue  or  what  may  be  called  a -mail- 
order business.  The  third  is  the  wholesaling  to  the  jobbers 


114     THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 


r 


FIG.  69. — One-year  Old  Apple  Grafts.     A,  3  to  4  feet; 
B,  4  to  5  feet. 


SUB-AGENTS—CATALOG  SELLING  145 

or  small  dealers.  In  only  special  cases  do  companies  have 
salaried  salesmen  to  call  on  the  trade. 

Sub-Agents.  It  is  the  policy  of  many  companies  to 
secure  in  each  local  fruit  section  a  competent  agent  who 
will  call  upon  the  fruit  men  and  solicit  their  business.  These 
agents  work  on  a  commission  which  usually  represents 
about  forty  per  cent  of  the  retail  price  of  the  trees.  They 
are  furnished  with  descriptive  matter  and  order  blanks 
which  are  filled  in  and  forwarded  to  the  company  as  fast 
as  business  is  secured.  These  agents  spend  the  winter  in 
canvassing  their  territory  and  in  the  spring  look  after  the 
delivery  of  the  trees  and  make  the  collections.  Where 
such  agents  are  reliable  and  trustworthy  men  the  plan  is 
highly  successful,  especially  in  sections  where  fruit  growing 
is  not  highly  developed.  They  often  help  the  general 
farmer  in  selecting  a  few  trees  for  family  use  and  may 
stimulate  to  an  active  interest  a  desire  for  fruit  that  has 
been  lying  dormant,  purely  from  the  lack  of  ability  to  make 
the  initial  effort.  It  is  no  unkindness  to  persuade  a  general 
farmer  to  buy  a  few  trees  for  home  use  provided  the  trees 
are  reliable  and  suited  to  the  local  conditions.  Such  agents 
should  be  well  known  in  their  own  community,  they  should 
be  willing  to  furnish  references  for  themselves  and  the 
company  for  which  they  are  working  at  any  time,  and  they 
should  not  ask  for  any  money  until  the  trees  are  delivered. 

Catalog  Selling.  The  present  trend  of  the  business  is 
to  deal  more  directly  with  the  companies  and  less  through 
sub-agents.  Fruitmen  who  are  well  versed  in  the  business 
do  not  care  to  listen  to  the  tales  of  the  agents.  They  repre- 
sent, for  the  most  part,  a  more  intelligent  class  and  prefer 


146     THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 

to  investigate  a  number  of  companies  before  placing  their 
order.  Many  college  man  are  going  into  the  fruit  business 
and  as  a  rule  they  are  quite  certain  of  just  what  they 
want.  Nursery  companies  are  well  aware  of  these  condi- 
tions and  utilize  their  best  efforts  to  get  out  catalogs 
that  are  true  and  accurate  and  will  convey  the  information 
that  the  buyer  wants.  There  are  still  many  catalogs 
issued  that  are  gaudy  imitations  of  the  real  thing  but  few 
buyers  are  fooled  by  them. 

A  good  catalog  is  well  illustrated  by  photographs: 
they  deceive  less  than  the  pen  drawings.  The  descrip- 
tions are  ample,  often  more  so  than  necessary.  Methods  of 
propagation  and  the  various  tools  used  are  often  depicted 
which  increases  the  interest  and  knowledge  of  the  reader. 
Great  mysteries  and  secret  processes  are  no  longer  included. 
Companies  realize  that  the  catalogs  represent  them  as 
their  salesmen  and  in  order  to  continue  in  business  the  goods 
that  are  delivered  must  be  an  exact  duplication  of  the  de- 
scriptions in  the  books.  Good  catalogs  are  expensive 
and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  invest  from  twenty  to  forty 
thousand  dollars  annually  in  their  publication. 

The  prospective  buyer  who  places  his  order  from  the 
study  of  catalogs,  likes  to  have  those  from  a  dozen  or  more 
different  companies  to  select  from.  He  reads  over  care- 
fully what  each  one  has  to  say,  draws  his  own  conclusions 
and  makes  his  own  selections.  Often  his  opinions  are  the 
result  of  his  own  experiments  or  inferences  may  be  drawn 
from  the  study  of  government  or  state  bulletins.  In  any 
case  his  judgment  is  apt  to  be  quite  correct  and  nursery- 
men like  to  cater  to  his  opinions. 


JOBBERS  OR  DEALERS— OFFICE  ROUTINE        147 

Jobbers  or  Dealers.  In  years  gone  by  these  people 
were  looked  on  with  suspicion.  Times  when  laws  were  less 
strict  and  the  buyers  more  trusting,  much  bad  material 
was  distributed  among  farmers.  The  jobber  was  often  a 
newcomer  in  a  local  section.  He  would  deal  in  trees  for  a 
few  years  and  then  vanish.  Particularly  about  the  time 
his  first  sales  came  into  bearing.  He  had  no  reputation 
to  maintain  and  it  sometimes  happened  that  a  nursery 
company  would  sell  to  a  jobber  what  the  company  would  not 
care  to  sell  to  a  grower;  especially  stipulating  to  the  jobber 
that  he  should  not  disclose  the  source  of  his  trees.  All 
orders  for  all  kinds  of  fruit  were  not  infrequently  made  to 
order  by  the  simple  device  of  placing  a  label. 

At  the  present  time  the  situation  is  fairly  well  taken 
care  of  by  the  restrictive  laws  which  safeguard  the  interests 
of  the  fruit  grower.  Only  reliable  firms  are  becoming 
doalers  and  the  stranger  that  calls  at  the  door  of  the  grower 
is  often  asked  embarrassing  questions.  His  license  to 
sell,  the  source  of  the  stock  he  is  offering  and  the  inspection 
certificate  issued  by  the  proper  state  officials  are  some  of 
the  things  that  the  buyer  wants  to  know.  Large  nur- 
sery companies  are  now  inclined  to  celebrate  with  large 
bonfires  what  were  formerly  the  chief  source  of  revenue 
to  the  nursery  jobber. 

Office  Routine.  This  resolves  itself  into  the  most 
economic  way  of  keeping  records  so  the  least  possible 
number  of  mistakes  will  be  made.  The  details  of  the  busi- 
ness are  legion.  The  possibility  of  error  is  far  greater  than 
for  almost  any  other  kind  of  work.  The  danger  of  using 
the  wrong  buds  or  cions,  the  possible  mixing  of  varieties 


148    THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 

when  transferring  to  the  storage  sheds,  the  placing  of  the 
wrong  label  when  the  grading  is  done,  clerical  errors  in  the 
accounting  department,  and  again,  possible  mistakes  in  the 
rilling  of  the  orders  are  just  a  few  of  the  things  that  worry 
the  manager  of  a  nursery.  Also  the  knowledge  that  any 
of  these  errors  may  be  interpreted  as  criminal  carelessness 
contributes  no  small  amount  to  his  troubles. 

In  this  connection  only  a  few  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples involved  can  be  cited.  Order  blanks,  sufficient  for 
the  needs  of  most  orders  are  sent  out  with  each  catalog. 
Full  and  detailed  instructions  are  given  wherever  possible. 
When  the  order  is  received  by  the  company  it  is  copied 
in  triplicate  and  a  copy  returned  to  the  buyer.  This 
passes  as  an  acknowledgment  and  a  receipt  of  the  order. 
The  buyer  is  further  instructed  to  examine  the  copy  and  if 
it  is  not  as  desired  to  report  at  once.  The  original  is  sent 
to  the  order  clerk;  where  it  is  filled,  boxed  up  and  made  ready 
to  ship  when  the  proper  season  arrives.  When  the  goods 
are  shipped  the  original  copy  goes  with  the  bill  of  lading 
for  the  buyer's  use  in  comparing  with  the  order.  The 
third  copy  is  kept  in  the  office  of  the  company  for  refer- 
ence in  case  any  mistake  is  made. 

In  spite  of  all  these  precautions  errors  will  appear,  and 
the  buyer  having  little  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  business 
often  becomes  caustic  in  his  letters  of  inquiry.  He  creates 
countless  trouble  for  the  company  by  failing  to  mention 
the  number  on  the  order  or  to  explain  just  what  is  missing. 
It  often  becomes  necessary  to  sort  out  the  comp^inant's 
order  from  fifty  thousand  others  on  the  name  and  address 
alone.  Then  the  company  has  to  write  back  to  ask  just 


FILLING  THE  ORDERS 


149 


what  was  missing  and  what  the  trouble  was  all  about. 
It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  the  nursery  companies  are  just 
as  anxious  as  the  buyers  are  to  see  that  all  mistakes  are 
properly  corrected  and  a  simple  letter  of  inquiry  stating 
the  facts  is  usually  all  that  is  necessary. 


FIG.  70. — Packing  Nursery  Stock  for  Shipment. 

Filling  the  Orders.  The  first  four  months  of  each  year 
are  the  busy  ones  with  nurseries.  This  is  the  rush  time 
when  all  the  orders  are  placed  in  packages  ready  for  ship- 
ment when  the  proper  season  arrives.  All  orders  are  booked 
and  filled  in  the  order  received.  Those  that  come  early 


150    THE  AFTER  TREATMENT  OF  NURSERY  STOCK 

in  the  season  get  the  pick  of  the  stock.  When  one  variety 
is  sold  out  those  who  order  late  must  go  without  or  allow 
substitution.  In  order  to  keep  track  of  the  varieties,  the 
total  salable  stock  is  carefully  counted  and  as  fast  as  the 
orders  come  in  each  variety  is  subtracted  from  the  total. 
When  the  supply  is  exhausted  the  rest  of  the  purchasers  are 
notified.  If  the  order  is  placed  early,  ample  time  is  given 
to  arrange  with  some  other  company. 

Nursery  stock  may  be  packed  in  boxes,  in  bundles  or 
is  sometimes  shipped  loose  in  carloads  to  the  sub-agents 
where  they  are  distributed  to  the  buyers.  The  important 
thing  is  that  the  trees  shall  reach  the  buyer  with  the  roots 
in  a  moist  and  fresh  condition.  The  roots  are  packed  in 
moss  or  chaff  and  then  covered  with  burlap  to  keep  them 
from  drying  out.  Those  that  are  to  go  south  are  shipped 
first,  and  then  as  the  season  advances  the  ones  that  go 
north  are  started.  There  is  no  special  advantage  over  the 
bale  or  the  box.  Probably  large  orders  can  best  be  handled 
in  the  latter.  Whatever  packing  material  can  be  used  with 
the  greatest  economy  is  the  one  to  have.  When  the  stock 
leaves  the  hands  of  the  company,  even  though  handled 
under  the  very  best  possible  conditions,  no  guarantee  can 
be  given  as  to  the  future  success  of  the  trees.  This  must 
rest  with  the  buyer,  which  is  another  story. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  nursery  trees  are  usually  grown  in  one  year  from  bud 

or  graft?    What  ones  in  two  years? 

2.  How  does  this  vary  in  the  northern  and  southern  states? 

3.  What  summer  culture  is  necessary  for  budded  stock? 


REVIEW  QUESTIONS  151 

4.  What  is  "  heading  back,"  its  purpose  and  how  done? 

5.  What  trimming  or  pruning  is  required  of  nursery  stock?     How 

done? 

6.  What  insect  and  fungus  troubles  are  liable  to  affect  nursery 

trees?    What  are  the  dangers? 

7.  What  are  the  essentials  of  a  good  nursery  spraying  machine? 

8.  How  are  trees  counted  before  digging  and  the  purpose  of  the 

count? 

9.  Describe  the  process  of  tree  digging  and  the  various  machines 

used. 

10.  What  is  the  pulling  process?    How  is  it  done? 

11.  How  are  nursery  trees  fumigated  and  what  troubles  is  it  sup- 

posed to  control? 

12.  Describe  a  modern  tree  storage  shed. 

13.  How  are  nursery  trees  graded? 

14.  What  are  the  principal  grades  and  what  do  they  stand  for? 

15.  What  are  the  usual  methods  for  selling  trees? 

16.  Describe  the  sub-agent  and  his  methods. 

17.  How  are  trees  sold  from  catalogs? 

18.  What  are  the  essentials  of  a  good  catalog? 

19.  Discuss  the  nursery  jobber  and  his  methods. 

20.  Mention  some  of  the  essentials  in  the  office  routine  of  a  nur- 

sery company. 

21.  How  are  orders  filled?    What  packages  are  used? 

22.  What  are  the  necessary  conditions  for  shipping  live  trees? 


CHAPTER  VIII 
SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

Pedigree  Nursery  Stock.  This  is  a  much  abused  and 
a  much  misunderstood  term.  To  the  nurseryman  it 
means  one  thing  and  to  the  scientist  another.  To  the 
former  it  is  interpreted  to  mean  the  careful  selection  of 
buds  or  cions  from  strong,  vigorous  healthy  trees.  It 
implies  that  extra  efforts  are  made  to  make  the  trees  true 
to  name  and  represent  the  best  strains  of  any  particular 
variety.  To  the  scientist,  the  term  conveys  the  same 
meaning  as  it  does  when  used  in  connection  with  animal 
breeding.  It  is  our  purpose  to  analyze  these  various  uses 
and  to  see  if  some  term  cannot  be  found  which  may  be 
accepted  as  a  common  definition. 

The  term  "  Pedigree,"  as  used  in  nursery  work,  has  no 
foundation  for  a  comparison  with  animal  breeding.  The 
two  processes  have  no  biological  relation.  The  one  involves 
the  mating  of  individuals  which  makes  the  progeny  sub- 
ject to  all  the  laws  of  heredity;  the  other  is  simply  the 
continuation  of  the  same  individual  by  dividing  it  into 
numerous  pieces  and  growing  them  to  maturity.  It  is 
somewhat  unfortunate  that  the  same  word  should  have 
different  meanings  when  applied  to  different  subjects,  but 
this  is  not  uncommon  in  the  English  language. 

As  to  the  much  argued  question:  "  Is  pedigreed  stock 

152 


PEDIGREE  NURSERY  STOCK  153 

of  any  value/'  the  answer  is  unquestionably  in  the  affirma- 
tive. There  has  been  much  carelessness  in  the  past  among 
nurserymen  in  putting  out  trees  that  were  not  true-to- 
name.  When  an  effort  was  begun  to  cut  buds  from  trees 
whose  records  were  known,  the  term  "  pedigree  "  became 
the  natural  means  of  advertising  that  effort.  Most  nur- 
serymen have  no  intension  of  applying  the  meaning  of  the 
term  to  a  better  performance  record  for  their  trees,  although 
there  is  sufficient  evidence  for  that  claim.  Some  scientists 
have  argued  that  there  is  no  foundation  for  the  assertion 
that  one  bud  on  a  particular  tree  may  produce  better  results 
than  another,  but  the  evidence  is  to  the  contrary. 

It  will  only  be  necessary  in  this  connection  to  cite  a 
few  well  recognized  examples.  Growers  of  geraniums, 
carnations  and  chrysanthemums  have  to  continuously 
select  their  cuttings  from  bearing  shoots  in  order  to  keep 
up  the  production  of  numerous  flowers.  Orange  growers 
are  not  only  selecting  buds  for  propagation  from  trees  with 
known  records,  but  often  from  a  particular  branch  of  one 
of  these  trees.  The  vigor  of  particular  varieties  of  fruit 
is  most  easily  perpetuated  by  bud  selection.  Two  Bald- 
win apple  trees  may  vary  widely  in  their  ability  to  be 
strong  pollenizers  and  this  character  is  perpetuated  by  bud 
selection.  A  certain  strain  of  pecans  and  Persian  walnuts 
grown  in  the  northern  part  of  the  United  States  are  much 
more  resistant  to  frost  than  others  grown  farther  south. 
This  quality  is  passed  on  by  the  use  of  buds  or  cions.  When 
growing  side  by  side,  the  Elberta  peach  which  for  several 
generations  grew  in  northern  Michigan  blossomed  several 
days  earlier  than  the  Elberta  peach  grown  in  California. 


154 


SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 


Double  Working.     This  is  a  practice  used  to  a  limited 
extent  by  nurserymen  in  order  to  adapt  varieties  to  special 


i.   ... 


Original 
French 
Stock 


JTIG    71.— Double-worked  Nursery  Trees.     Original  "  French 
Crab  "   Root. 

conditions.     It  means  that  the  variety  is  grafted  or  budded 
on  two  different  stocks  instead  of  one.     The  first  graft  or 


INFLUENCE  OF  STOCK  ON  CION  155 

bud  is  made  in  the  usual  way  and  then  later  a  second  bud- 
ding is  done.  The  process  takes  a  year  longer  to  grow  a 
desirable  tree  and  adds  considerable  to  the  expense  of 
the  work,  yet  the  results  often  warrant  the  extra  effort. 
The  Baldwin  apple  grown  in  Maine  is  more  resistant  to 
the  severe  winter  conditions  when  double  worked  on  the 
Tolman  Sweet.  The  Grimes  Golden  of  the  central  states 
is  increased  in  vigor  and  productiveness  by  double  work- 
ing. The  Stark  Brothers  Nurseries  use  many  nurse  root 
cuttings  of  the  Northern  Spy  and  Stark  Delicious  apples 
because  of  their  resistance  to  the  woolly  aphis.  The 
cuttings  are  made  long  so  they  will  eventually  develop  the 
major  part  of  the  root  system. 

Fruit  trees  that  have  weak  or  crooked  trunks  may  be 
strengthened  by  double  working.  The  Winter  Nellis  pear 
is  an  example  of  this  kind.  A  good  strong  grower  like 
the  Kieffer  is  used  for  the  main  trunk,  then  the  Y/inter 
Xellis  is  budded  into  the  branches.  Another  feature  of  this 
practice  is  the  shortening  of  the  time  required  for  trees  to 
come  into  bearing.  Apples  that  require  from  eight  to  ten 
years  to  produce  fruit  will  bear  in  five  to  eight  by  double 
working.  Pecan  trees  which  have  required  twenty  years  to 
fruit  as  seedlings  have  been  made  to  bear  in  ten  by  double 
working.  The  practice,  however,  is  not  recommended  in- 
discriminately but  only  to  fit  the  fruits  into  special  condi- 
tions. 

Influence  of  Stock  on  Cion.  Every  fruit  grower  knows 
that  the  kind  of  stock  on  which  the  fruit  is  grafted  may  pro- 
duce a  marked  influence  upon  the  resulting  tree  or  fruit. 
But  to  what  extent  these  influences  represent  fixed  or 


156 


SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 


dependable  qualities  is  still  an  open  question.  The  best 
recognized  example  of  this  influence  is  the  dwarfing  of  cer- 
tain standard  fruits  when  worked  on  smaller  stature  plants. 
Thus  apples  are  worked  upon  doucine  or  paradise  stock, 
or  pears  upon  the  quince  for  this  purpose.  Peaches  are 


FIG.  72. — Almond  Grafted  on  Peach.  Tree  forty-two  years  old. 
Measures  in  circumference  nine  feet  one  inch  above  the  union  and 
ten  feet  4  inches  below. 

dwarfed  by  working  them  on  the  common  American  plum 
while  oranges  and  lemons  are  put  on  the  citron. 

While  slow-growing  stocks  tend  to  reduce  the  stature 
of  plants  grafted  upon  them,  the  converse  of  this  is  also 
true,  although  probably  to  a  lesser  degree.  While  the  quince 
as  a  stock  will  dwarf  the  pear  the  reversing  of  the  process 
will  tend  to  increase  the  stature  of  the  quince.  The  French 


INFLUENCE  OF  STOCK  ON  CION 


157 


crabapple  commonly  used  as  the  stock  for  apples,  is  not 
a  particularly  large  tree;  yet  in  many  cases  if  not  in  all, 
the  more  vigorous  cions  have  stimulated  the  root  system 
of  the  stock  to  a  larger  size  than  it  would  normally  grow. 


FIG.  73. — A  Tree  from  the  Same  Orchard  as  Fig.  72.  Measures 
six  feet  six  inches  above  and  nine  feet  seven  inches  below, 
making  a  difference  in  circumference  of  three  feet  one  inch. 

Peaches  grafted  on  Myrobalan  plum  stock  produce  a  larger 
root  system  than  would  develop  if  ungrafted. 

Occasionally,  instances  are  cited  where  both  stock  and 
cion  are  stimulated  to  a  growth  far  greater  than  either 
would  develop  by  themselves.  Almonds  grafted  on  peaches 
have  developed  a  circumference  of  a  little  less  than  ten  feet 
(Fig.  72),  while  the  maximum  size  of  either,  growing  alone, 


158 


SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 


would  be  scarcely  five  feet.     Where  almonds  are  grafted 
on  plum  stock,  the  reverse  is  true  (Fig.  74).     Where  the 


FIG.  74.— Almond  on  Plum  Stock.  Tree  same  age  as  Figs.  72  and  73. 
Circumference  four  feet  below  the  union  and  four  feet  ten  inches 
above.  These  trees  were  sickly  and  many  of  them  had  died. 

union  comes  above  ground  there  is  almost  always  an  in- 
crease in  size  at  the  point  where  the  two  parents  are  joined. 
Whichever  parent  represents  the  larger  plant  that  part  of 


INFLUENCE  OF  STOCK  ON  CION 


159 


the  union  will  be  larger.     This  is  well  illustrated  in  Figs. 
72,  73  and  74. 

Another  influence  of  stock  over  cion  is  the  early 
bearing  tendency  of  dwarfed  trees.  Orchardists  every- 
where recognize  this  factor  and  utilize  it  in  a  practical  way. 
Pears  on  quince  stock  will  fruit  in  three  or  four  years  while 
the  standard  stock  requires  from  five  to  eight  years.  Apples 


FIG.  75. — Cross  Section  through  Union  of  Grafts.  A  and  C,  peach  on 
almond;  B,  English  walnut  on  black.  The  union  is  apparently 
as  strong  as  any  other  part  of  the  tree. 

on  paradise  stock  will  fruit  in  three  years  while  the  same 
variety  on  French  "  crab  "  will  require  from  five  to  eight 
years.  In  almost  every  case,  this  early  bearing  habit 
is  associated  with  the  dwarfing  condition.  Also  in  this 
same  connection  it  is  well  to  note  that  dwarfed  trees  are 
shorter  lived  than  their  full  statured  relatives. 

Various  other  known  conditions  are  attributed  to  this 


160  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

reciprocal  influence  of  grafts.  For  example,  peaches  or 
almonds  may  be  retarded  in  their  blooming  period  by  work- 
ing them  on  certain  varieties  of  plums.  Blossoms  appear 
on  plums  from  one  to  two  weeks  later  than  the  almond. 
Where  plum  stock  has  been  tried  the  delay  has  been 
about  one-half  the  difference  between  the  two  blooming 
periods.  In  a  similar  way  the  maturity  of  certain  varieties 
of  plums  may  be  hastened  by  working  them  on  early 
varieties  of  peaches;  although  it  is  doubtful  if  this  would 
ever  be  difference  enough  to  be  made  use  of  in  a  practical 
way. 

Color  and  flavor  of  fruits  is  also  influenced  more  or  less 
by  the  stock  used,  but  the  results  are  not  so  easily  measured 
or  so  well  understood.  There  apparently  is  no  question 
but  that  high  colored  fruits  can  be  improved  by  grafting 
on  seedlings  grown  from  high  colored  fruits.  This,  however, 
ic  more  or  less  an  indefinite  quantity,  as  the  seedlings 
themselves  may  vary  widely  in  their  ability  to  transmit 
the  high  color.  Results  are  more  noticeable  when  seedlings 
from  Siberian  crabs  are  used,  because  they  are  more  stable. 

What  is  true  of  color  is  also  true  of  the  sugar  and  acid 
content  of  the  fruit.  Apples  low  in  sugar  when  grafted 
on  sweet  apple  trees  will  show  an  increase  in  sugar  content. 
Undoubtedly,  some  of  the  poor  color  and  lack  of  quality 
in  certain  regions,  attributed  to  local  environment,  may  be 
due  to  the  influence  of  the  stock  on  which  they  are  grafted. 
Claims  have  been  made  that  the  Baldwin  apple  after  being 
grafted  through  several  generations  on  the  Tolman  Sweet 
has  developed  a  high  sugar  content. 

As  the  stock  may  affect  the  maturity  of  the  fruit  so  also 


INFLUENCE  OF  STOCK  ON  CION  161 

may  it  affect  the  keeping  quality.  The  Duchess  apple 
when  top-worked  on  the  Ben  Davis  will  keep  from  four 
to  six  weeks  longer  than  the  same  apple  worked  on  the 
common  stock. 

The  cause  of  these  varied  influences  may  be  attributed  to 
two  sources — namely,  mechanical  and  physiological  dis- 
turbances. This  can  more  easily  be  understood  when  we 
think  of  the  cell  as  being  the  plant  unit.  Each  cell  performs 
its  own  functions.  Theoretically  the  cells  of  the  stock 
perform  all  those  functions  characteristic  of  the  stock, 
up  to  the  point  of  the  union.  Then  the  cells  of  the  other 
co-parent  take  up  the  work  from  that  point  and  modify 
the  processes,  in  accordance  with  their  own  peculiar  char- 
acter. While  there  is  a  rather  wide  division  of  labor  in 
the  functioning  powers  of  the  cells  of  the  different  organs, 
there  is  a  more  or  less  definite  protoplasmic  organization 
throughout  the  entire  plant  tissue.  Certain  cell  sub- 
stances such  as  sugar  may  be  differently  affected  by  the  cells 
of  each  of  the  co-parents.  If  the  cells  of  the  stock  are 
capable  of  developing  a  higher  sugar  content  than  the  cion, 
presumably  the  cells  of  the  latter  will  not  reduce  it,  hence 
an  increase  or  decrease  in  the  acid  or  sugar  content  is  in- 
fluenced by  the  stock.  Of  course  this  is  relatively  a  very 
small  amount  and  were  it  not  the  case  the  entire  purpose 
of  graftage  would  be  lost. 

In  the  case  of  dwarfed  stock  the  cause  is  more  mechanical. 
The  root  system  of  the  slow  growing  plant  is  incapable  of 
supplying  sap  as  fast  as  the  more  rapidly-growing  top 
demands,  hence  a  reduction  in  size.  Conversely  the  de- 
mands of  the  actively  growing  top  stimulate  the  root 


162  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

system  to  a  greater  effort,  thus  causing  an  increase  in  the 
size  of  the  stock. 

The  early  bearing  habit  of  dwarfed  trees  may  be  ex- 
plained on  the  theory  that  the  diminished  supply  of  sap 
tends  to  weaken  the  whole  tree.  Now  the  object  of  every 
plant,  one  may  say,  is  to  reproduce  its  kind;  and  when 
it  finds  itself  weakening  it  seems  to  hasten  this  process  of 
reproduction,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  it  may  leave 
progeny  before  it  dies.  The  dwarfed  and  weakened  trees 
thus  blossom  and  set  fruit  before  their  normal  mates; 
and  are  correspondingly  shorter  lived,  due  to  this  weaken- 
ing, in  consequence  of  the  mechanical  restriction  of  the 
food  supply. 

Hardiness  in  Nursery  Stock.  Many  questions  are  being 
asked  at  the  present  time  if  it  is  advisable  to  buy  nursery 
stock  a  considerable  distance  from  where  it  is  to  be  planted, 
and  especially  if  stock  grown  in  the  south  is  as  resistant  as 
northern  grown  stock  to  the  rigorous  winter  conditions. 
While  no  specific  experiments  appear  to  have  been  tried 
to  determine  this  point  many  observations  from  practical 
experience  have  been  made.  Nursery  trees  of  every  kind 
have  been  shipped  far  and  wide  and  have  therefore  been 
tried  under  all  kinds  of  conditions.  Insofar  as  hardiness 
is  concerned  there  appears  to  be  no  difference  due  to  the 
locality  in  which  the  tree  may  be  grown. 

There  are  other  considerations,  however,  which  often 
make  it  advisable  to  secure  stock  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
place  where  it  is  to  be  planted.  The  danger  of  introducing 
insects  and  diseases  is  greater  when  buying  from  a  distance, 
and  there  is  less  chance  to  become  personally  acquainted 


HORTICULTURAL  NOVELTIES  163 

with  the  company,  and  the  environmental  conditions  often 
make  the  tree  unsuited  to  its  new  surroundings.  The 
added  cost  of  freight,  danger  of  delay  in  transit  and  the 
possibility  of  the  stock  drying  out  are  some  of  the  objec- 
tions to  buying  at  long  range.  Increased  hardiness  among 
fruit  trees  can  only  be  secured  by  breeding  and  selection, 
and  when  once  produced  can  only  be  maintained  by  vege- 
tative propagation.  It  should  be  understood,  in  this  con- 
nection, that  the  hardiness  or  the  resistance  of  any  variety 
to  the  various  troubles  may  be  increased  by  working  them 
on  different  roots.  But  if  using  the  same  root  it  does  not 
matter  in  what  part  of  the  country  the  tree  may  be  grown. 

Horticultural  Novelties.  Due  credit  must  be  given  to 
the  nursery  companies  for  their  efforts  in  finding  and 
introducing  new  and  valuable  varieties  of  fruits  and  flowers. 
It  is  true  that  many  new  plants  have  been  introduced 
which  have  no  particular  merit,  but  it  is  also  true  that 
many  of  our  most  valuable  varieties  have  come  through 
the  nursery  companies.  The  motives  which  have  actuated 
these  companies  in  introducing  new  plants  have  been 
mostly  financial,  although  many  of  them  are  spending 
time  and  money  simply  because  they  are  interested  and 
without  any  thought  of  remuneration.  Among  the  present 
workers  in  the  nursery  business  are  many  college-trained 
men.  Their  scientific  training  together  with  then:  abundant 
practical  knowledge  especially  fits  them  to  be  leaders  in 
this  kind  of  work. 

Some  men  like  Burbank  devote  their  entire  energies 
to  the  creation  of  new  kinds  and  then  sell  the  right  to 
introduce  them  to  other  companies.  Some  companies 


164  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

maintain  a  scientific  staff  for  the  purpose  of  breeding  new 
types,  or  to  experiment  with  old  varieties  in  order  to  better 
adapt  them  to  peculiar  or  specific  conditions.  Most  com- 
panies are  always  on  the  lookout  for  new  and  strange  types 
or  forms  which  may  become  a  valuable  novelty.  They  are 
trained  to  be  keen  observers  and  as  they  travel  over  the 
country  they  see  many  interesting  things  which  the  lay- 
man would  pass  by  unnoticed. 

By  far  the  greater  majority  of  novelties  are  discovered 
by  accident.  Some  orchardist  finds  a  seedling  growing 
in  his  garden.  He  transfers  it  to  his  orchard  with  the 
intention  of  later  grafting  it  into  a  desirable  variety.  This 
task  is  neglected  and  the  tree  grows  up  and  bears  desir- 
able fruit.  Thousand  of  seedlings  are  growing  every- 
where and  it  is  not  strange  that  some  of  them  may  be  an 
improvement  on  existing  varieties.  A  sample  of  the  fruit 
is  saved  and  sent  to  the  nurseryman,  he  examines  it  and 
becomes  interested.  Correspondence  follows,  later  a  visit 
is  made  to  the  tree  to  study  its  vigor  and  productiveness; 
a  contract  is  drawn  giving  the  company  the  exclusive  right 
to  propagate  and  sell  the  fruit.  A  number  of  cions  are  cut, 
a  few  trees  are  propagated  and  planted  in  their  trial  orchard. 
If  they  appear  desirable  the  variety  is  named  and  sent  out 
to  the  public.  All  this  consumes  from  five  to  eight  years 
and  it  is  only  reasonable  to  expect  that  a  higher  price 
should  be  asked. 

Many  new  plants  are  now  coming,  through  the  activ- 
ities of  the  department  of  plant  introductions  of  the  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture.  Nursery  companies  are  always 
willing  to  cooperate  in  the  testing  of  these  introductions. 


NURSERY  INSPECTION  LAWS  165 

Few  of  them  are  found  valuable  but  all  have  an  equal  chance 
in  their  dissemination.  The  state  experiment  stations 
and  the  trial  grounds  of  the  various  Agricultural  Colleges 
offer  an  efficient  check  against  any  imposition  on  the  people 
by  the  nursery  companies.  They  make  it  their  busi- 
ness to  secure  samples  of  all  novelties  as  soon  as  offered 
to  the  trade  and  grow  them  in  their  trial  grounds.  If 
they  fall  too  far  short  of  the  claims  made  by  the  intro- 
ducers the  public  is  notified  through  the  medium  of  the 
press. 

Nursery  Inspection  Laws.  Every  state  in  the  union 
now  has  some  kind  of  a  law  for  the  purpose  of  preventing 
the  shipping  of  nursery  stock  infested  with  insects  or  fun- 
gus troubles.  Not  every  disease  or  insect  is  serious  enough 
to  cause  the  destruction  of  the  stock  but  a  number  are, 
which  makes  the  regulatory  measures  necessary.  Prac- 
tically all  of  these  state  laws  are  patterned  after  the  same 
general  plan.  All  companies  intending  to  sell  stock  either 
in  their  own  state  or  other  states  must  file  their  intentions 
with  the  proper  state  official  and  make  application  for 
inspection  of  their  stock.  The  officer  in  charge  of  this 
work  varies  considerably  in  the  different  states.  In  some 
the  State  Horticulturist  does  the  inspection,  in  others  the 
Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  in  some  it  is  in  charge  of  the 
Agricultural  Colleges,  while  in  one  or  two  cases  State  Ento- 
mologists do  the  work. 

The  work  of  inspection  consists  mostly  in  the  visiting 
of  each  nursery  once  or  twice  during  the  year  and  making 
a  close  examination  for  insects  or  fungus  troubles.  If  the 
stock  is  found  clean,  an  official  certificate  is  given  which 


166  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

is  the  nurseryman's  authority  for  making  the  shipments. 
Every  package  that  is  sent  out  must  contain  one  of  these 
certificates  of  inspection.  These  are  not  necessarily  valid 
for  interstate  shipments.  Every  state  reserves  the  right 
to  reinspect  all  nursery  stock  shipped  in  from  outside. 
Certificates  that  are  good  in  one  state  may  or  may  not  be 
acceptable  in  others.  The  only  sure  *way  is  for  the  shipper 
to  secure  copies  of  the  law  in  states  in  which  he  intends 
to  do  business  and  inform  himself  on  the  requirements 
before  attempting  to  make  any  deliveries. 

The  insect  pests  or  diseases  that  will  prevent  the  ship- 
ping or  selling  of  stock  vary  somewhat  in  the  different  states 
but  the  chief  ones  are  the  following: 

INSECTS  DISEASES 

Brown  tail  moth.  Black  knot  of  cherry  and  plum. 

Gypsy  moth.  Crown  gall. 

Mexican  cotton-boll  weevil.  Hairy  root. 

San  Jose  scale.  Rosette  of  peach  and  plum. 

West  Indian  peach  scale.  Yellows  of  peach. 

Woolly  aphis.  White  pine  blister  rust. 

In  the  northern  states  some  of  these  are  of  no  particular 
consequence  while  further  south  some  that  are  not  on  the 
above  list  are  included.  In  Florida  the  Mango  Weevel 
and  the  Fruit  Fly  are  among  the  troublesome  ones. 

Federal  Horticultural  Board.  The  regulatory  measures 
passed  by  the  various  states  are  not  all  of  the  laws  with  which 
the  dealers  or  growers  of  nursery  stock  have  to  contend. 
There  have  been  certain  questions  pertaining  to  the  impor- 
tation of  plants  from  other  countries  and  the  quarantining 
of  certain  areas  to  prevent  the  spread  of  diseases,  which  could 


FEDERAL  HORTICULTURAL  BOARD      167 

only  be  handled  by  the  Federal  Government.  To  pro- 
vide for  this  need  Congress  in  1912  passed  the  "  Plant 
Quarantine  Act "  and  established  the  "  Federal  Horti- 
cultural Board."  This  Board  is  in  charge  of  five  men  drawn 
from  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  the  Bureau  of  Forestry 
and  the  Bureau  of  Entomology. 

The  aim  of  the  Quarantine  Act  was  to  enable  the  govern- 
ment to  prevent  the  introduction  of  dangerous  plant  dis- 
eases or  insect  pests  and  to  prevent  the  spread  of  serious 
infestations  to  new  territory.  The  Secretary  of  Agricul- 
ture was  given  far  reaching  power  in  the  making  of  rules 
and  regulations  which  might  be  applied  to  almost  any 
contingency  that  might  arise.  This  application  may 
extend  to  every  kind  of  living  plants,  excepting  only  field, 
flower  and  vegetable  seed  and  the  more  common  bulbs. 

The  members  of  the  Board  are  empowered  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  governing  the  procedure  of  all  nur- 
serymen who  desire  to  make  importations.  All  stock  or 
seed  brought  into  the  United  States  must  be  inspected  at 
the  port  of  entry  by  experts  and  if  found  infested  is  de- 
stroyed. The  Board  also  has  the  power  to  say  what 
stock  may  not  be  imported  or  from  what  particular  coun- 
tries importations  are  restricted.  Any  state  or  district 
within  the  United  States  may  be  quarantined  at  any  time 
if  it  is  deemed  necessary  to  prevent  the  spread  of  danger- 
ous insect  pest  or  fungus  troubles. 

On  July  the  first,  1914,  the  Federal  Horticultural  Board 
put  into  operation  ten  specific  regulations,  all  of  which  may 
effect  the  Nursery  Man.  These  regulations  are  still  in 
force  to-day  and  every  shipper  of  stock  should  familiarize 


168  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

himself  with  these  rules.  The  headquarters  of  the  Board 
is  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  to  which  all  inquiries  should  be 
directed.  The  chief  concern  to  the  nurseryman  over  the 
enforcing  of  these  regulations  will  likely  be  the  importa- 
tion of  seed  and  stock  used  in  propagation.  It  is  now  neces- 
sary in  all  cases  to  make  application  to  the  Board  for  a 
permit  which  will  entitle  the  holder  to  make  importations. 
Blanks  are  furnished  the  applicant  to  fill  out  in  which  the 
following  information  is  required:  The  time  of  importa- 
tion, the  locality  and  country  in  which  the  plants  are  grown, 
the  name  and  address  of  the  exporters,  the  port  of  entry, 
and  the  company  or  firm  which  is  receiving  the  goods. 

All  importations  are  divided  into  two  classes;  those 
coming  from  countries  which  maintain  a  nursery  stock 
inspection  and  those  countries  which  do  not.  In  the  Case 
of  the  former  the  Board  has  authority  to  accept  the  certi- 
ficate of  inspection  from  the  foreign  government  if  they 
consider  them  efficient,  in  all  others  the  stock  must  be 
inspected  at  the  port  of  entry.  Where  inspections  are 
made  stock  found  infested  with  dangerous  troubles  are 
destroyed.  If  the  proposed  importations  are  to  be  used 
for  experimental  purposes  a  separate  permit  must  be 
secured  giving  in  addition  to  the  other  information  the  exact 
designation  of  the  plants  to  be  imported.  These  regula- 
tions of  the  Federal  Horticultural  Board  in  no  way  satis- 
fies the  laws  of  the  various  states  and  the  nursery  companies 
must  see  that  their  own  state  law  is  complied  with.  In 
most  cases,  however,  the  state  officials  are  willing  to  accept 
the  certification  made  by  the  Board. 

Another  regulation  of  the  Federal  Board  gives  them 


REVIEW  QUESTIONS  169 

authority  to  quarantine  any  state  or  section  of  the  country 
where  dangerous  outbreaks  of  insect  pests  or  fungus  troubles 
may  occur.  This  may  not  only  affect  interstate  shipments 
of  nursery  stock  but  shipments  between  different  sections 
of  the  same  state.  Such  quarantines  may  be  permanent 
or  temporary  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  officials 
of  the  Board.  Wherever  such  acts  are  contemplated 
public  hearings  are  provided  for  where  interested  parties 
may  appear  and  give  evidence  concerning  the  subject  of 
the  hearing.  This  serves  as  a  check  against  hasty  action 
and  gives  all  interested  nurserymen  an  opportunity  for 
free  discussion. 

REVIEW  QUESTIONS 

1.  Explain  the  meaning  of  "  Pedigree  Nursery  Stock." 

2.  Discuss  the  application  of  Pedigree  Stock  to  nursery  work. 

3.  Explain  "  Double  Working  "  of  stock,  its  value  and  use. 

4.  What  is  meant  by  "  Influence  of  Stock  over  Cion"? 

5.  State  some  known  effects  of  Stock  on  Cion  or  Cion  on 
Stock. 

6.  Give  instances  where  the  above  is  made  use  of  in  a  commer- 
cial way. 

7.  Give  the  theory  in  explanation  of  the  reciprocal  influence 
of  Stock  and  Cion. 

8.  Discuss  hardiness  in  nursery  stock  and  the  extent  to  which 
it  may  be  influenced  by  climatic  conditions. 

9.  What  relation  does  hardiness  bear  to  the  place  where  nur- 
sery stock  is  purchased? 

10.  What  are  Horticultutal  Novelties? 

11.  What  should  be  the  orchardists  attitude  toward  novelties? 

12.  To  what  extent  do  nursery  companies  aid  in  the  improv- 
ing of  fruits? 


170  SOME  GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

13.  Give    the    nurseryman's    viewpoint   regarding    the    intro- 
duction of  new  fruits. 

14.  Why  are  laws  for  the  inspection  of  nurseries  necessary? 

15.  How  is  the  work  of  inspecting  nurseries  conducted? 

16.  What  particular  troubles  will  prevent  the  shipping  of  nur- 
sery stock? 

17.  What  is  the  Federal  Horticultural  Board? 

18.  What  relation  has  this  Board  to  the  various  state  inspec- 
tion laws? 

19.  How  may  the  rulings  of  the  Board  affect  nurserymen? 


INDEX 


Age  of  nursery  trees  as  affected  by 
stock  used,  158-159 


Bark  budding,  68 
Bark  grafting,  103 
Bench  working  stock,  87 
Blighting  of  small  seedlings,  27 
Bridge  grafting,  105 
Budding  or  grafting  best,  55 
Budding  nursery  stock,  55 
Budding  practices,  55,  56,  57 
After-treatment  of  budded 

stock,  64,  72 
Bark  budding,  68-70 
Buds  from  bearing  trees,  76 
Collecting  bud  sticks,  76 
Culture  of  budded  stock,  72 
Cutting  buds,  62 
Fruits  generally  budded,  57 
Inserting  the  bud,  62 
June  or  dormant  budding,  61 
Kinds  of  budding,  61 
Operation,  57,  58 
Practice  in  large  nurseries,  66 
Selecting  buds,  74,  75 
Shipping  bud  sticks,  77 
Spraying  budded  stock,  74 
Stripping  the  seedlings,  59 


Budding,  tools  used,  58 
Twig  budding,  67 


Callusing,  89,  115 
Cions  for  grafting  work,  107 
Cleft  grafting,  96 
Counting  nursery  trees,  134 
Cracking  hard  seed  for  germina- 
tion, 29 

Cultivating  seedlings,  44,  45 
Culture  of  budded  stock,  72,  130 
Culture  of  seedlings,  42 
Cuttings,  111 

Callusing  bed  for,  115 

Classification  of,  112 

Fig,  121 

Fruits  grown  from,  112 

Grape,  118 

Heel,  121 

Kinds  of,  116 

Mallet,  123 

Nurse  root,  124 

Parts  of  plants  used  for,  112 

Principles  involved  in  making, 
113 

Root,  124 

Simple,  118 

Single-eye,  117 

Soft  wood,  127 


171 


172 


INDEX 


Cuttings,  tip,  126 
Truncheons,  126 

D 

Digging  nursery  trees,  136 

Diseases  preventing  sale  of  nur- 
sery stock,  154 

Dormant  budding,  61 

Double  working  of  nursery  stock, 
154 

Dwarfing  nursery  stock,  15G 


Fall  treatment  of  seedlings,  46 
Federal  Horticultural  Board,  166 
Firmer  for  planting  seedlings,  42 
Freezing  fruit  seed,  28 
Fumigation  of  nursery  stock,  138 

G 

Gathering  apple  seed,  13 
Gathering  pear  seed,  15 
Germinating  tree  fruit  seed,  21,  22 

Lath  houses  for,  22 

Seed  beds  for,  21 

Small  seed  for,  23 

Sphagnum  moss  method,  22 
Grades  of  seedlings,  51,  52,  53 
Grading  nursery  seedlings,  52 
Grading  nursery  stock,  141 
Grafting  machines,  91 
Grafting  operations,  79 

Bark  grafting  in,  103 

Bridge  grafting,  105 

Callusing,  89 

Chisel  and  mallet,  for,  81 

Cions  used  for,  107 

Cleft  grafting  in,  96 

Grafting  machines,  90,  91 


Grafting     operations,     inarching, 
104 

Kinds  of,  86 

Piece  root  or  whole  root  grafts, 
92 

Saws  for,  81 

Shears  for,  82 

Side  grafting,  102 

Side  whip  graft,  93 

Theory  of  grafting,  85 

Tools  used  for,  79,  80 

Top  working,  95 

Waxei  for,  83 

Wax  formula,  83,  94 

Waxing  pot,  83 

Whip  grafting,  86,  87 

Veneer  grafting,  100 
Growing  tree  fruit  seedlings,  20 

H 

Handling  large  seed  for  germina- 
tion, 27 

Handling  small  seed  for  germina- 
tion, 23 

Hardiness  in  nursery  stock,  162 
Heading  back  nursery  stock,  132 
Horticultural  novelties,  163 

I 

Inarching,  104 

Influence  of  stock  on  cion,  155 

Insects  preventing  sale  of  stock, 

166 
Inspection  of  nurseries,  161 


June  budding,  61 

K 

Kinds  of  grafts,  86 


INDEX 


173 


Lath  house  for  germinating  seed, 

22 

Laws  affecting  nurseries,  165,  166 
Locating  the  nursery,  33 

M 

Mechanical    effect    of    stock   on 
cion,  161 

N 
Nursery,  32 

Common    practices     of     com- 
panies, 3 

Digging  the  trees,  136 
Distribution  of  companies,  2 
Drainage  requirements,  36 
Fumigation  of  stock,  138 
General  considerations,  32 
Grades  of  stock,  143 
Grading  the  stock,  141 
Increase   and   decrease  in  im- 
portance, 3 

Inspection  laws  of,  165 
Investments  in,  2 
Limitations  of,  32 
Points  on  location  of,  33 
Practice    in    relation    to     cli- 
mate, 3 

Preparation  of  site,  39 
Protection  from  wind  and  an- 
imals, 37,  38 

Pulling  nursery  trees,  137 
Relation  to  the  orchardist,  1 
Requirements  for  site  of,  35 
Size  of  plat  for  orchardist,  34 
Soil  requirements  of,  36 
Stock  for  propagation  for,  4 
Storage  sheds  for,  139 


Packing  nursery  stock,  150 
Pedigree  nursery  stock,  152 
Physiological  effect  of  stock  on 

cion,  161 

Piece  root  or  whole  root  grafts,  92 
Planting  fruit  tree  seed,  23,  40 

By  hand,  23 

In  the  summer,  29 

Machinery  used,  24 

On  large  scale,  25,  43 
Pulling  nursery  stock,  137 

S 

Seed  beds  for  germinating  seed,  21 
Seed  for  nursery  wrork,  4 
Cracking  of,  29 
Freezing  of,  28 
Importations  of,  9,  15 
Native  or  imported,  9,  12 
Quantities  used  in  U.  S.  for,  18 
Requirements  of  good  seed  for,  4 
Securing  good  seed  for,  5 
Testing  of,  29 
Viability  of,  30 
AYhere  to  look  for  good,  6 
Seed  for  the  various  fruits,  6 
For  the  apple,  10 

apricot,  6 

cherry,  9 

chestnut,  16 

nut  fruits,  15 

olive,  17 

peach,  6 

pear,  15 

plum  (myrobalan),  7 

walnut,  16 
Seed  planting,  40 


174 


INDEX 


Seedlings : 

Burying  to  remove  leaves  of,  47 

Culture  of,  44 

Digging  of,  46 

Fall  treatment  of,  46 

Fertilizing  of,  45 

Grades  of,  50,  51,  52 

Grading  of,  49 

Handling  of,  42 

Spraying  of,  46 

Storage  of,  49 
Selection  of  buds,  74,  75 
Selling  nursery  stock,  143 

Catalogs  used  for,  145 

Filling  orders  in,  149 

Jobbers'  methods  in,  147 

Methods  of,  143 

Office  routine  in,  147 

Subagents'  methods  in,  145 
Separating  fruit  seed  from  flesh, 

13,  14 

Setting  out  imported  seedlings,  40 
Shipping  fruit  seed,  17 
Side  grafting,  102 
Small  nursery  plat,  34 
Soaking  fruit   seed   for  germina- 
tion, 29 

Spraying  machines,  134 
Spraying  nursery  stock,  46,  133 


Stock  for  propagation,  4 

American-grown     seedlings     of 

apple  for,  1 1 

French  crab  apple  for,  10 
Kinds  in  common  use  for,  5 
Storage  sheds  for  nursery  stock, 

139 

Stratification  of  seed,  21 
Subtropical  seed,  18 
Summer  culture  of  nursery  stock, 
130 


Testing  fruit  seed  for  germination, 

29 

Top  working  old  trees,  95 
Treatment  of  nursery  stock,  130 
Trencher   for   planting  seedlings, 

41 

Trimming  of  nursery  stock,  132 
Twig  budding,  67 

U 

Use  of  cuttings,  17 
Use  of  seed  planters,  23 


Veneer  grafts,  100 
Viability  of  fruit  seed,  30 


DAY    AND    TO 
OVERDUE. 


°N 


FEB     3  1933 
FEB    4  1933 


APR   g 


14  1935 


JUL 


c^    jw  1976 

I    1977 

CJ&     DEC 


ON  THE  FOURTH 
SEVENTH     D™ 


tYB  47594 


364869 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


